


Unity & Perseverance

by chloemacd



Series: Unity & Perseverance [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asian Character(s), Bisexual Character, Black Character(s), Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dead Character Is Alive, F/F, F/M, Gay Dean Thomas, Gay Seamus Finnigan, Gen, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Has a Twin, Hogwarts Inter-House Friendships, Hogwarts Inter-House Relationships, Hogwarts Inter-House Unity, I thrive on comments by the way, Implied Femslash, Lesbian Character, M/M, Multiple Pairings, Representation, Severus Snape Bashing, Sirius Black has a daughter - Freeform, Slash, developing background characters, diversity, inner turmoil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 39
Words: 237,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24074428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloemacd/pseuds/chloemacd
Summary: After the events of fourth year, Harry, his twin Amelia and godsister Dorea spend some time looking back and forwards. It is crystal clear that there has to be inter-house unity, friendship and co-ordination in order for them to get through the eminent return of Voldemort. So they decide to create the D.A - and discover friendships they never thought would ever happen. Will it work?
Relationships: Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black/Marlene McKinnon, Theodore Nott/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Unity & Perseverance [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734397
Comments: 47
Kudos: 28





	1. The Potter's Arrive

**Author's Note:**

> You might want to read the Character Profile's of Dorea and Amelia before reading this, just so you know what they look like and that.  
> Also, I ship Sirius and Remus together, but because I so wanted Sirius to have a daughter, let's pretend that him and Marlene Mackinnon had a child.  
> Also, here's a little bit of context. During the graveyard fight between Harry and Voldemort, Harry managed to take not only Cedric's body back with him, but also Pettigrew's - meaning that the Ministry were able to declare Sirius innocent. However, it will soon become quite clear that Pettigrew won't have that long a stay in Azkaban.

Tonight was the night that Harry and Amelia were to finally be arriving at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Ever since she bade them farewell at the end of fourth year, Dorea felt empty without her partners in crime alongside her. She certainly couldn't think of any good pranks to pull without them (although last night at dinner she successfully managed to slip a mild but effective love potion into Mundungus's drink which, for a good half hour, made him declare that he had an undying love for Mad-Eye Moody. She wasn't going to forget Moody's looks of terror, anger and shouting anytime soon.)

  
Her father also seemed to be missing his godchildren. Even though he was delighted that he was finally getting to be a father to Dorea, she could tell that he just needed Harry and Amelia to be there with them, to complete the nice little family they were going to be. 

  
Dorea Black looked at the clock in her bedroom (which she shared with Hermione and Ginny) very impatiently. Harry and Amelia were due to arrive by dinner, - however, there was a serious Order meeting going on downstairs which wasn't going to be ending for a while, which meant that dinner could be anytime between half six or eight, which she would rather gouge her eyes out than wait for. She was slightly hungry as well - she had only consumed a sandwich and a half for lunch as they seemed to be the regular lunch-time option, and she wasn't ungrateful at all, she was just bored of having them for the past four days on the bounce. 

  
Ginny entered the room then. "Cheer up, Dorea, they won't be too long."   
Dorea smiled slightly. "I'm so going to stampede at them when they arrive," she chuckled. "And when they do, be prepared, because we're going to liven this dull house up by pranking left right and centre."   
Ginny grinned. "Finally! Although I have to say, you slipping Dung a love potion was the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. Fred and George were very impressed."   
"My pleasure," Dorea laughed again. "I think I should slip one into my Dad's drink next, and have him proclaim his love for.. Hmm, I don't know, my uncle Moony?"   
Ginny clapped her hands together and laughed at the thought. "Oh Merlin, yes! I would love to see that!"   
"Moony won't know what's hit him." Dorea couldn't wait to carry this out.   
It was then that Hermione entered. She seemed to be carrying a very large and heavy-looking ledger book. "Oh hey, Dorea, I don't really know if your Dad would like me finding this, but I found this book in the Library. It's got a bit of everything, - Gringotts records, duplicated letters, receipts from a whole bunch of stores, and photographs. If you turn to the seventieth page you'll find a hilarious picture of your Dad." 

  
Dorea took the book from her and sat it down next to her on her bed, with Ginny and Hermione sitting down either side of her to get a look at it as well. She turned to page seventy and instantly laughed. The photo Hermione was referring to was a moving picture of who Dorea knew instantly was her dad. He was about six or seven years old, with a mop of unruly and curly black hair. This was obviously taken when he was actually treated like a son by his mother and father, not like a piece of dirt. He was wearing a dress belonging to a little girl that was far too big and long for him, and was posing, but when another young girl with blonde hair came into view and started chasing him, he ran away.    
"Who do you think that is?" Ginny asked, referring to the girl chasing him in the picture.   
Dorea knew instantly. "Narcissa Malfoy."   
Hermione looked shocked. "You're related to the Malfoy's?!"    
"All the pure blood families are related in some way," Ginny explained. "Did you know that your Dad is my dad's second cousin twice removed, Dorea? My family are only distantly related to the Malfoy's through a marriage some good hundred years ago, but we're related."   
"Draco's mum is a Black by birth," Dorea knew her family tree like the back of her hand. "Her mother was a sister to my grandfather, so that's why they were close as children as they were always invited round. In fact, Tonks's mum is a sister to Narcissa as well, although she was banished for marrying Tonk's dad, Ted Tonks, whose a Muggleborn."   
"Gosh, you learn something new everyday!" Hermione gasped, clearly trying to take all the information in.

  
They skimmed through the giant book some more. There were a whole twenty pages dedicated strictly to Dorea's uncle, Regulus, who was a Death Eater. There was one where he was blowing candles out on a birthday cake with a giant "10" iced into it, another where he was getting measured for robes at Madam Malkin's shop, grinning happily, and another one where he was stood beside his father at King's Cross station, with a hustle of people behind them, obviously heading to Hogwart's for his first year. The rest of them were mostly ones where he was on the Quidditch team, posing in his robes and holding his broomstick proudly. The last ones were ones where he was holding a certificate of some sort - which Dorea realised were photos of both his O.W.L and N.E.W.T results, which read either "O" or "E" and nothing below that.   
"He just doesn't look like he'd be a Death Eater," Dorea spoke suddenly.   
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked kindly.   
"Look at him, - he always seems to be happy, cheerful.. Kind in a way. He's a model student - good exam results, bloody Head Boy badge as well - and he just... I don't know. I don't think he became a Death Eater of his own free will."   
"Maybe he changed." Hermione suggested. "Perhaps his parents manipulated him to the point where he was entirely convinced that following You-Know-Who was the best path to take."   
"Or maybe.." Ginny pondered. "Maybe your grandmother and grandfather forced him to be one. Think about it - Sirius didn't believe in the pure-blood ideology and he was kicked out the house and branded a traitor, but what if Regulus joined the Death Eater's because he would have nowhere to go if he was kicked out on the streets?"   
"Good point," Dorea pointed out, Hermione nodded. "Or maybe, - this is a long shot though, - maybe he was under the Imperius."   
"That actually seems plausible." Hermione agreed.    
"It wouldn't surprise me if my grandparents did that to him, you've seen what this house contains.." Dorea shuddered at the thought, thinking of all the dark-looking artefacts that she had found when lurking and exploring the rooms (well, the ones that Kreacher hadn't stolen, anyway).    
"I wish that meeting would hurry up and end." Ginny groaned.   
"I wish Harry and Amelia would arrive. It's not as if Surrey's on the other side of the world, so it shouldn't be taking them this long. Moody and company set off more than an hour ago." Hermione agreed.   
"You know how paranoid Mad-Eye is, though, he'll make them come via bloody Norway or something to be on the safe side and have them double back so many times to make sure they aren't being followed." Dorea said.

  
It was then that a loud  _ CRACK _ could be heard, and within a split second Fred and George had Apparated into their room.   
"Stop doing that!" Ginny complained, a hand on her chest in fright.   
Fred winked at Dorea, which she blushed at. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep their relationship a secret, especially with her father and Mrs Weasley watching them both like Hawks.   
"Can't a man visit his girlfriend?" Fred then kissed Dorea on the cheek, which everyone awed and laughed at.   
"When are you actually going to announce your relationship?" Hermione asked.   
"Are you kidding? You've seen how protective my dad is of me even walking down the street, he'd have kittens if he finds out I have a boyfriend!" Dorea said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.   
"Mum and Dad would actually be delighted," George commented. "They considered you a daughter from the moment they saw you, Dorea, you can at least tell them but make them promise not to tell your Dad."   
"We'll tell them when we're ready, won't we, Fred?" Dorea said to Fred in a warning tone.   
He nodded his head dutifully.   
"Well, we gotta blast, those Puking Pastilles aren't going to make themselves, are they, Gred?" George said.   
"Certainly not, Forge, we've got business to complete." And with that, the twins Dissapparated with another loud  _ CRACK _ .   
"How are they making those bloody products without any of the adults knowing? What room are they brewing them in?" Hermione asked curiously.   
"You know that locked study on the fourth floor? In there." Dorea answered. "Everyone's been trying to unlock it for weeks with no success, but because they can Apparate now, they just go into there and make their products with a silencing charm in the room as they know none of the adults won't attempt to get in."   
For the next hour, Dorea, Hermione and Ginny just sat and talked, as well as reading magazines together. Ron then called them down into his room as he announced that there was a new model of the Cleansweep out, so Dorea and Ginny poured over the advertisement of it with him whilst Hermione read Transfiguration Weekly.   
They were comparing the broom's features with the Firebolt when they heard the front door opening downstairs.   
"It's Harry and Amelia," Ginny said excitedly. "They're finally here!"   
Dorea sprang up. She'd finally have her godsiblings here! Even though the Weasley's made Grimmauld Place that much more enjoyable (and certainly brighter), it would feel complete with Harry and Amelia finally joining them. She had been utterly furious that she wasn't allowed to even get into contact with them (Dumbledore had the nerve to deny her even that). She had said a few choice words at the Headmaster, earning her a few telling offs.

  
She stepped out on to the landing and peered over the bannister. Low and behold, Moody, Remus, Hestia, Kingsley, Tonks and the other Order members had returned with Harry & Amelia in tow. They looked a bit drenched, and bewildered.  _ I don't blame them, _ Dorea thought, _ I had the same reaction when I first stepped foot into this dreadful house. _ _  
_ She heard the voice of Molly Weasley in the hall, and she greeted them both with warm hugs. It wasn't long before she was ushering them upstairs - and swiftly heading back into the meeting.

  
She almost ran at them when they came upstairs, but decided against it, as they didn't look too overly happy (and they had lots of explaining to do, to catch them up).    
"Dorea!" They both chirped at her. She grinned and hugged them both despite herself.   
"How was the flight? Were you attacked? Moody certainly seemed to think that you would be." She asked them.   
"It was good to get back on the broom again. The weather though... We flew through some clouds and got very cold." Amelia replied happily enough.   
"I'll show you both where you're staying - Harry, you're sharing a room with Ron, and Amelia is staying with me, Hermione and Ginny." She explained, pointing to the two rooms across from each other.   
Harry merely put his trunk in the boys room before congregating in the girls room, where Hermione instantly ran at him and engulfed him in a hug, to the chuckles of Ron.

  
Exactly as Dorea predicted, Harry was soon shouting at them, and Amelia was definitely pissed off as well. They were frustrated that virtually nobody had contacted them, that nobody had told them what was going on.. Oh, and that nobody had told them what on earth the Order of the Phoenix was. Or what Voldemort was doing.   
Fred and George soon made another appearance, and it was soon a rather dull and tense atmosphere as they explained what had happened in terms of Percy's estrangement from the Weasley family. "He's nothing short of a tosspot!" Amelia had exclaimed. "The absolute nerve he has to say that to Mr & Mrs Weasley like it's their fault!"   
The final cherry on the cake for Harry and Amelia was informing them just what Rita Skeeter was reporting of them in the Daily Prophet (it was far more about Harry than Amelia, as Harry had to take part in the TriWizard Challenge and had witnessed Voldemort's return) but even so, they both looked totally confused and angry. 

  
Excitement resumed again when they heard people exiting the house, signalling that the Order meeting was finished. They soon all went to lean over the bannister to get a look at who all was there. She noticed that Harry seemed utterly baffled that Snape was there. He had a few choice words. Soon enough, one of Fred & George's Extendable Ears were dangling in front of their faces, and being shuffled further down to try and catch what was being said. However, Crookshanks got to it first, and managed to tear it off the string, meaning they had to abandon the mission. 

  
Molly Weasley soon ushered them into the kitchen, but they all got a fright when a big clanging noise was heard - Tonks had tripped over the umbrella stand, and not for the first time.  What followed was the almost deafening screams coming from the portrait of Dorea's grandmother, Walburga Black.   
  
Harry genuinely thought that he was looking through a window, but soon discovered that it was in fact a portrait of a woman. Her eyes were rolling, she was drooling, and shouting all sorts of insults.   
" _ You dare bring filth into this house!! You beseech it with half-bloods and mudbloods and beasts! How dare you befoul the house of my father's! _ "   
Remus and Mrs Weasley were trying to shut the curtain over the painting, but it wasn't budging all that much. Seemingly from nowhere, Sirius came sprinting into the hall.   
"Shut up, you stupid old hag!" And with that, the screaming died, momentarily.   
" _ You _ !" The lady howled and raged, " _ The shame of my flesh! Begone from here at once! _ "   
"I said - SHUT UP!" His godfather bellowed, and with that the curtains were firmly pulled over again, and quiet resumed.   
The man who he hadn't seen or heard from since fourth year turned to them. "Hello Harry, Amelia, I see you've met my mother."


	2. Exploring Grimmauld Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter mentions a character from the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game. If you haven't played the game, check out the certain character mentioned (Tulip Karasu)'s wiki so you know who I'm referring to.  
> You'll notice that this chapter and the previous one are quite similar to the chapters in the Order of the Phoenix where Harry arrives at Grimmauld Place, and that's why I ommited a bit of information out (such as the weapon they talked about and the order's activities)  
> Enjoy! :)

Harry was a tad confused. “Your mother?”

“Yes, my dear old mum,” said Sirius, a bit sarcastically. “We cannot seem to remove the painting - we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let’s go down into the kitchen now, quick, before dinner gets cold.”

“What is this place? Why is a picture of your mum here?” Amelia asked, still a bit bewildered as she tried to peek up at the other portraits in the hall.

“This was my parent’s house, but I’m one of the few Black’s left, so it is mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for Headquarters - about the only useful thing I’ve actually been able to do.” Sirius replied. Harry noticed as well that Sirius was another person not particularly happy with the Headmaster of Hogwarts either. 

The kitchen of this place was only a little bit nicer than the hallway - it was mainly lit by the fireplace at the other end of the room and though it had a high ceiling, didn’t feel entirely homely. There was a long rectangular table taking up half the room, and beside the kitchen units was an entrance to a pantry.

He sat down at the table, with his twin sister sitting next to him and Dorea two seats down. Sirius sat at the table too. What Harry had mistaken to be a pile of dirty clothes started snoring and speaking.

“Mundungus, wake up.” Sirius said, kicking the man's legs under the table, where he promptly sprang to life.

“W-what? ‘Oo’ said that? What's ‘appened?” The man Mundungus’s head started moving side to side around the room. Amelia and Dorea started chuckling. Harry felt himself smiling too. “The meeting finished almost ten minutes ago, Dung.” Sirius said, not looking that pleased. “Harry and Amelia are here.”

“Blimey, so they are.” Mundungus looked between the two of them. “Blinkin’ nora, it’s almost canny how much they look like-!” After a loudly cleared throat from Sirius, Mundungus went all faux proper. “Mundungus Fletcher, Miss Potter. I’ve met yer brother.” Amelia reluctantly took Mundungus’s grubby hand and shook it with the most minimum of efforts. Harry smirked, but then the man turned towards him. “I owe ye an apology, Mr Potter,” After being told off for smoking a pipe in the kitchen, Mundungus explained that the night Harry and Dudley were attacked by the dementors, Mundungus was “sorry” to not have been watching him as he “had a business opportunity”. Harry pretended to look sympathetic and brushed his apology away.

When dinner was finally served (a tasty stew made by Mrs Weasley), Harry instantly kicked into interrogation mode, as he politely asked what on earth the Order of the Phoenix was all about. That one question had almost descended the table into chaos - Sirius wanted to inform both him and Amelia, whilst Mrs Weasley argued that they were too young and that they shouldn’t be told more than what they need to know. It had gotten quite bitter - Mrs Weasley had mentioned James Potter and how Sirius had a hard time pretending that Harry and Amelia weren’t their father. Mrs Weasley was overruled though, and soon enough the whole table was talking about what Voldemort was up to.

“So you’re trying to stop him from gaining support and followers?” Amelia guessed.

“That’s our aim, yes.” Lupin replied. 

“Fudge still isn’t believing that he is back,” Tonks said, “He is frightened of Dumbledore, you see.”

Harry almost laughed as a horror-movie-like image of Fudge cowering away from Dumbledore popped into his head. “How can he be frightened of him?”

“Fudge thinks that Dumbledore wants to overthrow him and become Minister for Magic.” Mr Weasley added. “Which Dumbledore is obviously not planning to do, but there’s still popular support there for him even though he’s never applied to it.”

“Fudge knows that Dumbledore is far more clever than he is, and so is making himself believe that he is the smarter one and that Albus is lying in order to destabilize him.” Bill said.

“But you are telling people that I’m telling the truth, aren’t you?” Harry asked.

Everyone smiled thinly. “Me and Tonks would lose our jobs if we even mentioned it,” Mr Weasley added.

“I obviously don’t get invited to extravagant dinner parties to spread the word,” Lupin said, “a con of being a werewolf.”

When Harry said the simple statement, “I want to join the Order,” he was shut down not by Mrs Weasley, but by Lupin. 

“The Order is only composed of overage wizards, Harry - and that also includes school leavers.” Remus explained, and aimed the last bit at Fred and George, who were about to protest.

“We’re in our seventh year though! Surely that’s adept enough!” George complained.

“Yeah, we’re doing NEWTs this year!” Fred exclaimed.

“Pfft, you’re doing like five NEWTs between you.” Ron chuckled, to the glare of his older brothers.

“What exams you’re doing or have done doesn’t automatically mean you’re enrolled, you know. It’s not based on qualifications.” Sirius said to the Weasley twins. 

Harry glanced at Mundungus Fletcher. _That explains why they let him join._

Remus continued. “None of you know just how much danger is involved, any of you… Molly is right, Sirius, we’ve informed them enough.” That seemed to be the end of dinner. Mrs Weasley beckoned her children and Hermione. They all stood up then and Harry, sharing a look with his sister that recognised defeat, followed them. Mrs Weasley led them upstairs. “I want you all to get straight into bed and lights out, we’ve got a busy day cleaning this place tomorrow.” 

_Cleaning?_ Harry thought, _what, like dustpan and brush and featherduster?_ From what he’d seen, it looked clean enough. He asked Ron about it. “Oh, you haven’t seen nothing yet. This place was filthy when we arrived. Everyday we’ve all tackled a room. I think there’s only a handful more to do... “ Ron shuddered. “You should’ve seen what was lurking in the downstairs toil-”

Harry wondered why Ron just stopped talking, but in the dark room he could see that Fred and George had made an appearance. Ron cried out a bit.

“Keep quiet, or Mum will be straight back in here.”

“You just Apparated on to my legs!”

“We can’t see as well in the dark.”

Harry could feel his mattress sink a bit, and saw either one of the twins sit down near the end of the bed. “So, what d’ya think?” He realised it was George.

“About?” He said.

“What they bloody let slip, of course! The weapon!” Fred said, sounding excited.

“Maybe it’s a particular spell?” Harry offered.

“Or something that can cause multiple deaths - a bomb, or something.” George speculated.

“D’ya think maybe Dumbledore’s got it for safekeeping?” Fred added.

“At Hogwarts?” Ron asked.

“Ooh, I bet! That’s where he kept the Philosopher’s Stone, after all! That explains why You-Know-Who’s so desperate to get his hands on it - it’s way out of his reach!”

“This weapon has to be larger than a little stone though.” Harry said.

“Shhhh!” They suddenly went silent. “Mum’s coming up the stairs!” George said frantically. And with that, Harry felt the weight on his bed lift, as the two twins Apparated out of their room and presumably went back into their own. He could hear Mrs Weasley walking about on their level - she even stopped outside their door before advancing upstairs.

Harry, feeling a bit bewildered about the events of the day, tried to get to sleep. If someone had told him two days ago that today he and Amelia would be taken away from Privet Drive and transported to Sirius’s family house in London, he would have thought they had gone barmy.

Amelia woke up the next morning to the sight of Mrs Weasley peering over her. “Wake up, dear! Breakfast is ready downstairs, and after that we’ll need your help in the drawing room - there are Doxy’s in the curtains.”

Amelia groaned, and stretched once as she got out of bed. As she got dressed into a simple hoodie and jeans, she noticed that she was the last out of the girls to wake up.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw mostly everyone at the table eating. Bill was just leaving though, - he had to go to work. “Curse-breaking doesn’t stop for anyone!” He chirped at her as they walked past each other in the hallway. As she buttered her crumpet, she saw that Tonks was just finishing her coffee and was about to leave for work as well. Mr Weasley had another half hour until he had to leave, but liked to get there earlier.

She effectively had to wolf her breakfast down, as Mrs Weasley wanted the Doxy’s to be dealt with right away, and so gulped it down as she walked to the drawing room - a manky high-ceilinged room on the first floor that was incredibly dusty. Every time she walked, clouds of dust would come up. _If there’s a hoover about, I’d gladly take one to this carpet.._ She thought, but remembered that Dorea’s grandparents hated anything to do with muggles, so it would be highly unlikely that they’d have a vacuum cleaner around.

“Cover your face and take one of those spray bottles of Doxycide,” Mrs Weasley gestured. “This is the worst infestation I’ve ever seen, just what that house elf has been doing these ten years I’ll never know.” Amelia almost chuckled as she looked to Hermione and seen her best friend shoot a reproachful look at Mrs Weasley’s comment about Kreacher.

“When I say _squirt,_ start spraying immediately. They’re going to come flying at us. Once they’re immobilised, throw them in this bucket.” The Weasley matriarch explained.

A few seconds later, Mrs Weasley shook the curtain and shouted. “Squirt!” Amelia blinked, and suddenly a Doxy was flying at her. She sprayed it though - quidditch made her reflexes immaculate. Catching it as it fell, she put it in the bucket. She could see that Fred and George were pocketing a few without their mother noticing, and they were telling Harry about their latest developments.

The de-doxying of the curtains took a few hours out of the morning. In fact, it was almost lunch time. Amelia was staring at the damp and limp curtains when they heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll bring up a quiche and some sandwiches,” Mrs Weasley said as she departed. They all ran out to the bannister to try and get a look at who was coming in.

They heard a few voices - They could hear the calming tones of Kingsley Shacklebolt, and they also seen Mundungus sneak in with what looked like a whole lot of cauldrons balancing in his hands. He could hardly see over the top of them. “What’s he doing with all of them cauldrons? Will we be brewing potions next?” Amelia joked.

Her question was answered after he managed to drop one - only, they all went tumbling down onto the floor. Sirius’s mum started screaming again, and Mrs Weasley almost rivalled her shouting. “THIS IS NOT A STORAGE WAREHOUSE FOR YOUR STOLEN GOODS, MUNDUNGUS! COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE - IT’S AS IF WE HAVEN’T GOT ENOUGH ON OUR PLATES TO DEAL WITH WITHOUT YOU BRINGING YOUR TRINKETS INTO THE HOUSE!” Was what they heard. Amelia shivered.

She also seen two new people make their way past Kingsley and helped to close the curtain over Walburga Black. They were a man and a woman.

“Hey, who are those two?” Harry pointed at them.

“Not a scooby,” Fred answered.

“Wait!” Ginny leaned a bit more over the bannister, to get a better look. “That’s Tulip Karasu’s parents!”

“Who?” Ron asked, brows furrowed.

“She’s a girl in my year, a Ravenclaw. I’m amazed you don’t know her, Fred, George, she’s a right good prankster too. Her parents work at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” Ginny paused, and then turned to Harry. “If they’re here… then it must mean they’ve come to join the Order! They believe you, Harry!”

Her brother looked a bit relieved. “That’s two less people in Voldemort’s ranks, at least.”

They had to hurry back into the drawing room when Mrs Weasley came back upstairs not long after and placed a plate full of sandwiches and a plate of quiche lorraine on the table. They all dutifully pretended to not have seen or heard anything. Mrs Weasley turned to her as she was leaving. She noticed she was very red in the face still. “Oh, Amelia, Sirius wants to see you downstairs after you’ve eaten.”

“Oh, okay.” She nodded.

“I wonder why.” Dorea pondered.

“Oh gosh, unless he found the dungbombs we put in the master bedroom.” She realised. She laughed when the boys all looked at them. “A little prank we have planned that you should keep to yourselves.” She said, with a face that said “ _don’t go telling anyone about it.”_

She wandered downstairs and tried to peek in all the rooms to try and find her godfather. She found him peering up at a tapestry on the wall, which she came to realise was a family tree. “Ah, there you are Amelia.” He gestured to her to come over.

“Hello,” she smiled. She soon realised that this was one of the few times she was chatting to her godfather alone without Harry or Dorea around. It felt quite weird.

“This is the Black family tree,” Sirius pointed out, and she scanned her eyes over it. 

“Dorea told me all about it,” she quickly added, “she knows it like the back of her hand.”  
Sirius barked laughter. “No clue why she would want to memorise it, if I’m honest, half of them are wretched.”

She chuckled. But then spoke again. “Was there a reason you wanted to see me?”  
“Within the next few weeks or so, we won’t be staying here.” Sirius explained. “I’ve found us a place where we will be even more safe.”

“Oh, really?” Amelia replied. “Like, a new Headquarters?”

“No, no. Headquarters will still be here. I’m talking about a place for us to _stay_ full time - a home.” Sirius answered. “Though this revolting place has its uses, such as all the security measures known to wizardkind on it, it's no fun. The Ministry gave me two hundred thousand galleons as an apology for throwing me in Azkaban, but turns out, I didn’t even need it - for this property is also in the Black family name. It belonged to my uncle Alphard - he left me money when he died, but turns out Bill discovered at his work that in his Will, he left it in my name.”

“Oh,” Was all Amelia could say to that. She felt a bit stupid. “I hope it’s more welcoming than this place, no offence. There better not be more screaming portraits.”

Sirius laughed again, and she thought he looked years younger. In fact, now that he was washed and in proper clothes instead of rags, he looked like a whole new man. She could see Dorea’s resemblance to him very easily. She still felt a wave of excitement that she would finally be getting what she yearned for - a family life, a home. Her, Harry and Dorea would all be together with Sirius. She knew it was going to be a blast. She urged time to move faster.

Their war on Number 12, Grimmauld Place raged on for a good few days. The drawing room was finally cleaned after two days, but there was still the shaking cabinet to contend with. Mad-Eye Moody didn’t have enough time to drop by and confirm what was lurking inside of it, so it would have to rattle some more. Tonks joined them for a memorable afternoon where they lured and banished a ghoul that resided in the upstairs loft, and Remus helped them mend the destructive grandfather clock that shot nuts and bolts at unsuspecting passers-by. Mundungus even earned the gratitude of Mrs Weasley after he saved Ron from a pair of murderous robes that tried to suffocate him when he took them out of the wardrobe.

One day, Amelia even ran into their Potions professor, Severus Snape, when she was bounding down the stairs to lunch. “Do watch where you’re going, Miss Potter.” Snape had growled at her like a mutt. 

“Professor? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She replied, unwaveringly. “I didn’t know you were an Order member.”

He didn’t bother to answer her, he just glared and made his way to the front door to (thankfully) leave. _Good riddance,_ she thought, putting a certain finger up at the back of his head when he wasn’t looking. The man had always hated her, Harry and Dorea from the moment he first saw them. 

With every day that passed, Harry’s hearing at the Ministry loomed closer and closer. She could see her brother tense every time it was mentioned. The night before, even Amelia had forgotten about it when Mrs Weasley mentioned it at dinner. She could see that Harry’s mouth went dry.

“I’ll take you to work tomorrow, Harry, and you can wait in my office until it’s time.” Arthur Weasley offered. She noticed her brother glance at their godfather, yet Mr Weasley immediately answered that question. “Dumbledore has advised against Sirius going with you, Harry.” 

“Yes, and I think he’s quite right.” Sirius said through gritted teeth. Even though Sirius’s name was cleared, it was obviously not yet quite sure what the public opinion was regarding his bounty being lifted and being found innocent. 

“When did Dumbledore drop by?” Harry asked.

“Last night, when you all went to bed.” Mrs Weasley replied.

Amelia’s low opinion of the headmaster stooped even lower. _He doesn’t even stay to talk to Harry regarding a bloody court hearing?! It’s like he wants Harry to be expelled!_ Was what she ranted to the girls about in their bedroom that night. 

Truth be told, Amelia went to sleep that night not having a clue if the word of Albus Dumbledore would be enough to keep Harry from being expelled.

  
  



	3. Harry's Hearing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is purely from Dorea's pov, but like the previous two, the next ones will probably all be from one or two person's perspective.  
> Next Chapter: Sirius, Dorea, Harry and Amelia move to the new house, and Harry has a revelation.

Dorea felt very anxious as she watched Harry leave with Mr Weasley out the front door to go to his Hearing early next morning.  _ What if they expel him?  _ She couldn’t help but ponder the idea in her head,  _ they’ll snap his wand in half and he’ll never come to school with us again! _

She tried to push those horrible thoughts away as she was dusting the furniture in her grandfather’s old study with Amelia and Tonks. Tonks even flipped through some of the documents that looked to be over fifteen years old, maybe even twenty. “Listen to this - ‘ _ Dear Mr Orion Arcturus Black, your application to the position of Board Chairman for the League of Purity Council has been approved. Please find attached our Code of Conduct and confirm your Approval.’” _

“League of Purity? Sounds like some Death Eater malarkey.” Amelia piped up as she was dusting the old wooden bookshelf. 

“Who on earth would keep letters of the least important things? He even kept monthly updates of the balance of the Black family vault.” Tonks muttered as she attempted to carry on dusting out the drawer. It was quiet for a few moments, as they resumed work. “Dorea, you’ve been dusting that same shelf for ten minutes, it doesn’t need to be sparkling.”

“What? Oh..” She realised that she had in fact done just that. “I was just thinking about Harry.”

Tonks looked sympathetic. “I just know they’ll let him off. Amelia Bones is strict but fair.”

“I have a feeling Fudge will have a nose in at his trial, though.” She admitted. “He’ll be pulling all the strings in the shadows.”

“He’ll definitely be there.” Amelia said as she turned to them. “He’ll have an influence.”

“Albus will make sure it swings in Harry’s favour, trust me.” Tonks said kindly.

Dorea was about to mention her disagreement to that statement, yet kept it to herself.

Harry came home around about midday, and they all held their breath as they awaited his verdict. “I got off!” He announced gleefully.

The whole kitchen erupted in cheers. Fred, George and Ginny started chanting “He got off, he got off,” whilst everyone else crowded around him. Sirius looked simply delighted, as did Remus. She hugged him when the crowd finally dispersed. “How was it then?”

“Well, I was almost five minutes late to the thing.”

“What?” She replied, gasping.

“They conveniently changed the courtroom and start time. They sent an owl to Privet Drive - obviously still thinking I live there, and they sent one to the Burrow too. Thankfully one of Mr Weasley’s colleagues told us or else I would have been screwed.”

“What did Dumbledore say?” Hermione enquired, when they were back up in the girls bedroom discussing the trial. 

“He spoke in defense of me, and buggered off without a word when it was all done.” Harry grumbled.

“He didn’t even say a well done or a congratulations?!” Ron said incredulously. “That’s terrible!”

“And when me and Mr Weasley were leaving, guess who we saw talking to Fudge? Only Lucius Malfoy.” Harry continued. Ginny made a noise akin to Crookshanks growling. 

“Why was he talking to the Minister?” George piped up.

“God knows. Maybe… I don’t know, maybe Fudge is secretly supporting Voldemort and is just waiting for him to take over, but is hiding his true loyalties.” Harry said.

“Or he’s under Imperius?” Amelia guessed.

“I still can’t get over how you were tried in front of the whole Wizengamot for a simple debate over using magic to save your own life,” Hermione said, “That has Fudge written all over it.”

“Yeah, I mean, I was meant to be interviewed in Amelia Bones’s  _ office  _ before they changed the time and place, but no - I just had to have about fifty people staring down at me.”

“Did you see Percy?” Fred asked. Her boyfriend’s question made them a bit tense. 

“He was the Court Scribe. He didn’t even  _ look  _ at me and your dad when he walked past us on the way out.” Harry replied.

“Pompous git,” George commented, “I bet he was doing that stupid thing where he holds his head high to make him seem really important.”

“Yeah, he was doing that.” Harry said.

Dorea always thought Percy was far more suited to Slytherin than Gryffindor, if she was being perfectly honest. He had his ambitions to rise high within the Ministry of Magic, and was very resourceful too - his position at the Ministry as Fudge’s Junior Personal Assistant proved just that.  They were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Come in!” Dorea called out. The door opened, and low and behold, it was their fellow Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom.

“Neville!” Harry and Ron said in surprise at the same time.

Also at the door with Neville was Lupin. He had obviously shown him up the stairs.  “What are you doing here, mate?” Ron said in happy surprise.

“My gran is an Order member, and she’s just arrived for the meeting downstairs. She didn’t want me home alone - something about our new magical neighbours being quite suspicious, - so she took me along.” Neville explained. “I must say, this is a weird house.” He added.

“Takes some getting used to.” Amelia commented. Dorea noticed how much Neville had grown since the end of fourth year - he was taller (he just about reached Lupin’s shoulders) and more lanky. His hair was freshly styled and his teeth were a bit straighter.

Neville spent a few hours at Grimmauld Place, and even stayed for supper. They all met his grandmother, Augusta, who was quite sharp. The woman was sat directly across from her at dinner. “So, you’re Sirius’s daughter?” She quizzed.

“Yes, Madam, I am.” She replied politely. She noticed her father glancing down from the head of the table at the mention of his name.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you weren’t Marlene’s daughter at all - you’re the spit of your father, girl.” Augusta Longbottom said. Emmilene Vance was also sat next to the old woman.  “She certainly is,” Vance hummed in agreement. 

“Oh, aren’t Harry and Amelia the spitting images of James as well?” Hestia Jones all but reminicised in a slightly dreamy tone. 

“Yes, yes.” Augusta seemed nonplussed. “Are you in the same year as my grandson?”

“Yes,” Dorea replied, “I’m a Gryffindor too.”

“Another Black in Gryffindor? Gosh, Walburga and Orion will be turning in their graves.” Augusta muttered.

“Did you know them?” She asked.

“I was a few years above them. Never spoke to them though, for obvious reasons. You have your grandmother's look, that’s for sure. I just hope you don’t have Orion’s temper.” The Longbottom matriarch answered.

She had no clue about that. She didn’t know a thing about him except his love for pureblood superiority. “Erm, I don’t think so.”

Fred muttered quietly next to her, “Doubtful.”

She kicked his legs from under the table, causing him to stifle laughter. Augusta Longbottom seemed to be bored of the conversation, as it ended there.

When Neville and his grandmother left, Dorea, Ron, Harry and Amelia made a start on their homework they got assigned to do before the holidays (with Hermione’s supervision, as she’d already done all the work and refused to show them her essays, but agreed to give them tips). Professor Snape wanted two double-sided parchments about Weedosoros, which they covered at the end of fourth year. They had just got to the effects of its potency when Sirius walked past their door, but then doubled back to pop his head in.  “Working hard?” He grinned knowingly.

“How on earth are we meant to fill two parchments about this bloody potion if we only have three paragraphs of information in the textbook to go on?” Ron groaned.

“What potion is it?” Sirius asked.

“Weedosoros.” Dorea answered, tapping the top of her quill against her chin, stumped for answers.

Her dad pulled a face. “Oocha! I hated brewing that poisonous filth almost as much as I hated writing about it. To make things worse, it came up in the O.W.L!” He said, feeling their pain.

“Hermione’s done it, but she ain’t showing us it.” Ron complained.

“You’ve got to work it out for yourself, Ronald!” Hermione said, irritated. 

“Well, what did you all write about? We only need one more section.” Harry said.

Hermione sighed in annoyance. “All right, fine - I wrote about its description, its effects, characteristics and key information about brewing it and cautions to take whilst doing so.”

“Thank you.” Ron said as if Hermione had just saved his life. 

Sirius hung about, asking them about other school work they had to do, but as soon as they were done with the Potions essay, he turned to her. “Darling, can I talk to you for a minute or two?”

_ If he’s found out about me and Fred..  _ Dorea’s mind was spinning.  _ Nah, surely not, he doesn’t even look that bothered.  _ They just went into the room next door. It was her uncle Regulus’s old bedroom, decked out in Slytherin colours and the Black family crest. Her father put an arm around her. She decided to speak first. “When are we going to the new house you said you found for us?”

“You read my mind, dear, I was just about to tell you about it.” Sirius smiled. She perked up.

“Dumbledore found us a few house elves at Hogwarts who all agreed to serve us there. They’re cleaning it all out and preparing it for human habitation - just like we’re doing here.” He explained as they sat down on her uncle's bed.

“It can’t be _that_ messy,” Dorea said, “You said your uncle Alphard only died last year.”

“Yeah, well, in the last few years of his life, his memory started to go haywire, and it got to the point he had to be transferred to St Mungo’s - I think they called it something that sounds like dementor… Anyway, due to his compromised mobility, he couldn’t get up and about to clean the house - he even left a cauldron cooking away for two  _ hours _ the week before he was transferred, the poor man. It is a bit messy, but it’s nothing compared to this place.” Sirius explained.

“Will Remus be staying with us?” She asked, remembering.

“I did make the offer to him, but he’s far too bloody modest. Even though there’s plenty of room, he declined.” Her dad answered. “But that’s not to say he won’t come and visit.”

She smiled at that. “Is there a date fixed for when we can move in?”

“The earliest we could go would be Friday.” Sirius said.

“ _ This _ Friday? As in, three days from now?” She said excitedly. 

“Yes.” Was her father’s answer.

On Thursday night after dinner, Dorea told Fred about the new house she, her dad and god-siblings were moving into. She thought he didn’t know.

“Sirius told us about it two weeks ago.” Fred answered.

“Oh.” Was all she said to that. She thought it was brand new information to him. “Does all the Order know?” 

“Only the ones that stay in this house.” Fred replied, “Your dad figured it would be safer that way. He added us all to the security wards.”

She knew that the people who had been added to the house’s security wards were the only people who would be able to have access to the house, and also the only people who could locate it. That way, no Death Eater’s could even hope to find or even see it, except if they had managed to get somebody with access to give up the location under torture. She had read that in a household Charms book at some point last year, even though they didn’t do household spells until sixth year.

She was optimistic about moving to this new house - she hoped it had plenty of sereneness and countryside. As much as she loved the Weasley’s, and her boyfriend, living in Grimmauld Place with them felt a little suffocating - they were all living on top of each other.

On Thursday night, Dorea went to bed almost too excited to get to sleep. With her trunk packed and ready at the end of her bed, she must’ve tossed and turned for ages before she even began to feel drowsy. She could hear Amelia’s mattress creaking a bit - she must’ve been doing the same, but it soon stopped. Finally, at two in the morning, mere hours before they moved to this new safehouse, Dorea Black fell asleep.


	4. Black Manor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter spanned just over 11 pages on Google Docs... Be warned, this one is quite long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Harry has another revelation, which may change the perception of just how better a united student front is than a fractured and prejudiced one.
> 
> Also, this is what I imagine Black Manor to look like from the outside: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/140104238389096027/

Amelia woke up on Friday morning with an unusually high motivation to get out of bed. Today, she would be moving out of Grimmauld Place and going to live with her godfather, along with Harry and Dorea, at their new home. Even though she had no clue where this new house was located, she was very optimistic.  As she walked downstairs to breakfast, she encountered Ginny. Her friend turned to her. “Mum says we’re not to discuss the fact you’re moving today - Elphias Doge has just dropped by.”

She knew what that meant, as there was a rule - only the people who lived in Grimmauld Place knew about their move (the only exception being McGonagall and Dumbledore). Not even fellow Order members who were superbly trusted, like Kingsley, knew they were going - it was far safer to tell as few people as possible. That way, they could sleep far more easily at night.

They walked down into the kitchen together. Her twin brother, along with the other Weasley’s, Dorea, and Hermione, were all there munching away. Remus was helping Mrs Weasley wash up a few dishes. Tonks and Mr Weasley had already gone to work. Elphias Doge was sat reading  _ The Daily Prophet. Why is he reading that drivel?  _ She thought incredulously. She spread some strawberry jam on a warm bit of toast and began to eat. Her godfather entered the room not long after. Though he was yawning, he looked in regal spirits. She could tell he just wanted to mention their new home, but was unable to due to Elphias Doge.

“Why is he even here?” She whispered to Harry, gesturing to the old man.

“He was talking to Remus and Mrs Weasley about something - he had a letter, and I heard Hagrid’s name being mentioned.” Harry whispered back.

“Hagrid’s an Order member, isn’t he?” When Harry nodded, she continued, “It’s strange we haven’t seen him drop by.”

“Oh, you’re right! I wonder why?” 

Sirius got up out of his seat and came towards them. She felt him place a tiny bit of paper in her lap as he went through to the pantry.

She opened it out of sight of Doge - it read:

“ _ There’s been a slight change of plan - Dumbledore has to survey the house’s security wards and enchantments just to make doubly sure they’re a hundred percent safe and renew a few of them. We can go to the house from 1 o’clock onwards.” _

That dampened her mood slightly - they would have to wait a few more hours.  “Oh well, it is what it is.” She said quietly. Feigning that she was going for another cup of tea, she got up, she passed the piece of paper to Dorea, who read it. She shared the same slightly disappointed look as her, but shrugged. The outcome would still be the same - they were still leaving today. “I’m going for a shower.” Dorea said.

Dorea left the room, walked up the stairs and down the long corridor to go to the large bathroom at the end. It had been scrubbed within an inch of its life, and was now shiny and clean instead of grubby. She got the fright of her life when she entered the bathroom and saw, sitting in the bath, Kreacher, who appeared to be muttering to himself and was holding something under his loincloth. (For a split second Dorea felt sick as she thought he was doing something rather unpleasant). "What are you doing in here, Kreacher?" She asked, firmly.   
"Kreacher did not see young mistress," the old elf grimaced, and under his breath, Dorea heard him mutter. "Nasty little blood traitor that she is, the brat."   
"Didn't catch that last part, Kreacher," Dorea snapped at him. "Just  _ what _ are you up to now? Dad won't be pleased if you've been smuggling stuff again."   
"Kreacher has done nothing of the sort, young mistress," he grumbled again. "Mistresses' father is nothing but a nasty swine who broke his mother's heart. Oh, if mistress Walburga was still alive, she'd blast all these unnatural beasts and brats and traitors out the house-"   
"Kreacher, what. are. you. doing. in. here?" Dorea shook the elf harshly, and could almost hear Hermione telling her off in her head, saying " _ oh Dorea, he isn't in his right mind _ ".   
"Kreacher is cleaning."   
"That's likely. This room has been spotless for the past week."   
"Oh, the runt is as horrid as its sire. If my poor mistress-   
"Oh yes, I'm sure she'd be horrified. Kreacher, hand me whatever you've got under your cloth. That's an order."

  
Kreacher would never dare disobey a direct order, and with great reluctance, tipped the contents out. They were all relatively small things, - an old toothbrush with the initials R.A.B written into them (the initials of her uncle), a watch, a quill, and a peculiar looking box.    
"Why do you have these, Kreacher?" Dorea took hold of him again, and this time could hear Hermione explaining S.P.E.W in her head.   
"Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if these were lost," he said, then muttered very fast, "especially if it was in the hands of her good-for-nothing brat of a granddaughter."   
"I reckon you've done something to these, Kreacher," she spoke slowly but harshly. "I wonder what would happen if I did this." She then drew her wand (she was allowed to do magic, she learned from Tonks, as the ministry couldn’t detect anyone doing magic if they were in a highly secret location) and was about to speak the incantation when Kreacher made a mad dive to gather the objects back and dashed for the door. "Oi, get back here!" Dorea shouted. " _ Accio  _ Kreacher!"

  
Within an instant the elf had whizzed through the air and was now in a struggling heap in her arms. He was wriggling around like a Flobberworm and burst into tears when Dorea held him by the scruff of the neck and commanded him to sit in the corner. The old elf would not stop crying, and his cries were getting louder by the second, and his insults more harsher. "Oh if Master Regulus was alive, how he'd beat the daylights out of his ungrateful, useless niece. Oh how master and mistress would take pleasure in seeing her beaten-"   
"- _ SHUT. UP _ !!" Dorea's patience was running low. She pointed her wand at the most suspicious item Kreacher previously held - the quill. It just didn't make sense how or why he was holding it so dearly. It was just an old quill. " _ Reparifrage _ ," she spoke the incantation, and ignoring the threats and insults Kreacher was making about her, her dad and now her mother, she watched as the quill began to transform into a piece of parchment, filled with writing,   
" _ Nooooooo _ !" Kreacher wouldn't stop crying, and Dorea was surprised as to how nobody was coming thundering up the stairs to investigate yet. The bathroom was big, and it meant that noise echoed off it due to its size and airiness.    
Dorea instantly lurched forward and took the parchment in her hand.   
It read.   
  
" _ Mother/Father, _ _   
_ _ I cannot do this anymore, I simply can't. I am sorry I will be bringing shame on the family. But if you were in my shoes you would not stand another minute of this torture. _ _   
_ _ The Dark Lord is making big plans. He is saying that after he kills the twins Harry and Amelia Potter, he's promising me that 'Sirius will regret not joining his ranks'. I'm scared for him. You may hate his guts and think him nothing more than a swine but he is MY brother, and I can never tell him how sorry I am. _ _   
_ _ The reason I am scared is that the Dark Lord is also planning an attack on the MacKinnon family. You may think them scum, but the woman Marlene is the mother of Sirius’s child, and if she's the target, their daughter will be too.  _ _   
_ _ Little Dorea is my last hope of redemption. If he touches her, I will make sure that the world knows his treachery. Do you know how hard it is for me to just sit there at meetings when he's planning to kill my future sister in-law and my niece right in front of me? _ _   
_ _ No, you don't, because you've never bothered to do anything yourselves. _ _   
_ _ Mother, father, you two are the biggest hypocrites in this godforsaken world.  _ _   
_ _ From a young age you've taught me that Lord Voldemort is the way forward - that pure-bloods are like royalty and that Muggles are nothing more than dirt. You've drilled it into mine and Sirius's brains and when Sirius didn't join him, it fell on me to join him. Sirius always asked why we had to, and why  _ _ you two _ _ , the  _ _ adults _ _ , hadn't joined Voldemort, and all he got for that was a smack. _ _   
_ _ But he was right. _ _   
_ _ Forcing your only two sons to join a powerful dark wizard just because you shit yourself every time you see him really is a poor excuse, and low even for you two. _ _   
_ _ Your own granddaughter is in enormous danger, - your  _ _ granddaughter,  _ _ who from what I gather from Pettigrew is the sweetest and purest little soul in these dark times. The girl could be ruthlessly murdered along with her mother's family and yet  _ _ NEITHER OF YOU CARE _ _ because she's Sirius's daughter. _ _   
_ _ I hope you both rot in hell. _ _   
_ _ The Dark Lord has tasked me with something that I will be unable to fully carry out, and it's regarding his horcrux of Salazar Slytherin's locket. I have to switch the real one for a fake one, and Kreacher will be helping me out - he is critically needed for the task. _ _   
_ _ However, this is when I will be betraying Lord Voldemort, and if Sirius dies along with the MacKinnon's, then I will take it upon myself to raise his daughter as if she was my own, and love her the same way her mother and father do. However, if I die before I can do this, then.. Well, let's just say being dead will be far better than leading the life I'm currently living, and will find a way to look out for Dorea even in the grave. _ _   
_ _ I wish you good fortune for the rest of the war, but I hope you both die knowing that you're nothing but hypocritical scum, and are quite frankly shit excuse for human beings. _ _   
_ _ Signed, _ _   
_ _ Regulus Arcturus Black _ _   
_ _ Your "loving" son. _ _   
_   
Dorea stood shocked, her body getting cold goosebumps. Her suspicions that Regulus hadn't become a Death Eater of his own free will was confirmed. He was in fact forced to.   
It wasn't that knowledge that shocked her, it was what he had written regarding her. She couldn't ever imagine being in Regulus's position - if she had to sit and hear someone plotting to kill Harry or Amelia she would not go quietly.    
Regulus had also promised to raise her as if he was her own daughter, if anything happened to Sirius or her mother, Marlene. That part touched her heart more than anything. He was willing to risk his own life if it meant that his niece was safe. If her uncle was still alive, she'd hug him fiercely right now.

  
She was thrown back into reality when she heard a clanging, and turned around to find that Kreacher was kicking the wall and still crying.    
"STOP!" She commanded him, and he obeyed very reluctantly. If looks could kill, Dorea Black would be dead by now.  She almost laughed out loud at the thought of her own gravestone reading " _ Dorea Black. Cause of Death = House Elf” _ _   
_ "Why have you kept this hidden, Kreacher? I'm sure Regulus wouldn't be very happy if you were hiding stuff like this from his own niece."   
"Master Regulus wouldn't want it to be shared to his filthy blood-traitor niece, spawn of scum." Kreacher continued his breakdown.   
"My uncle loved me very much, thank you." She snapped.  She then turned to the other suspicious item Kreacher had taken for himself, the box. Once she made doubly sure that the old elf wasn't going anywhere, she raised her wand once more and muttered " _ Reparifrage _ ."   
This time the box took its time to reveal whatever it was concealing. It was hovering in the air and growing with every second, until it finally changed and turned out to be a portrait.   
Not just any portrait though, her own grandfather's.   
With wide eyes, she turned around and cast a silencing charm in the bathroom, and then locked the door. She gave Kreacher one last glare before slowly turning to face the portrait. If her grandfather's portrait was anything like her grandmothers, it was going to be  _ loud. _ The portrait of Orion Black didn't move at first, and Dorea almost thought that it wasn't a magical one at all. But then he started up.   
" _ You _ ." Orion Black narrowed his eyes at her. His voice was very gravelly and Dorea hated to admit it, but she was scared of the way he sounded.   
"Hello, grandfather." She said simply.   
"So. You're Sirius's girl." Considering her grandfather hadn't started shouting yet, you could almost call this a good start.   
"Yes, I am. And you're my grandfather."   
"I suppose so. Is that Kreacher behind you?"   
"Yes."   
"Kick him for me." Orion Black said sharply.   
"Why?"   
"Because thanks to him I'm now having the unfortunate opportunity of talking to you."   
"So that's where Dad gets his joker side from.." Dorea replied sarcastically whilst rolling her eyes.   
"Shut up, whore."   
"That's not a very nice thing to say."   
"Do I look like I care?!" Orion snapped, making Dorea flinch.   
"I found Regulus's note."   
For a split second, Dorea saw worry flash in the eyes of her grandfather's portrait. "What note?! I have no idea what you're talking about."   
"Hmmm let's see..the one where he calls you and Walburga hypocritical bastards, and basically exposes you for being shitty parents." Dorea challenged.   
"How dare you!! No granddaughter of mine would ever dare speak to me like that! If I was alive you'd be going across my knee right now, girl-" he started shouting.   
"And there you go again being hypocritical!" Dorea snapped. "You just called me a whore less than a minute ago, do you really expect me to stand here and take that?"   
"Are you a Black or not?!" Orion was starting to get scary, and Dorea now knew exactly why Sirius had left this house at the age of 16 to live with James Potter.   
"Oh trust me, I am a Black. There's a reason I'm in Gryffindor, you know - it's because I'm brave, and I don't take shit from anyone, especially people like you."    
"Should have known you were a Gryffindor," her grandfather continued looking at her as if she was dirt. "Your wretched father was one too. No, to be a Black, you have to be in Slytherin. You would of excelled in the Dark Arts, dear-"   
"- I don't want to study Dark Arts, thank you very much, I'd rather _ defend _ myself against them." Dorea snapped again.   
Her grandfather made a type of growling noise that Dorea associated with big cats. "Suit yourself. You'll be coming crying back to my portrait when the Dark Lord comes to get you, child. Just you wait."   
"No, I shan't wait. I've quite frankly had enough of you for one day. Oh yeah, go tell your wife to cut her tongue out, by the way, we're all sick and tired of having to be mute in the hallway." Dorea said cheekily, and was about to silence her grandfather when he started talking again.   
"Wait!"   
"What?!"   
"Stay with me for another minute." Orion commanded, but Dorea thought that his tone was slightly softer.   
"Come again?"   
"You look like her." Orion commented, his tone now very soft. However, being compared to her shouty grandmother dampened Dorea's mood slightly. “Your grandmother.”   
"Erm.. Thanks."   
"You've got the softest eyes as well. Full of kindness, I can see. For the sake of yourself, I hope you live a long and happy life. Do well at school. Go on to greatness. I'll have Phineas keep an eye on you for me." For the first time, Orion Black sounded exactly like a grandfather should be - complimenting and kind. However, she had an inkling somewhere in her that Orion was thinking that it was his wife he was talking to, having just said that Dorea looked just like her.  _ Maybe he's finding it easier to do it that way _ , she thought,  _ still knowing that he's speaking to me but can't bring himself to be nice, so he pretends I'm his wife instead. _ _   
_ With a tiny smile, Dorea turned the portrait back into the box it was before.   
Slightly shaken, she gave Kreacher back his items (except her uncle's letter), and then told him to leave her. Once he was gone, she finally did what she originally came into the bathroom for - to have a shower.

It was one thirty in the afternoon, and thankfully, they now had the all clear to move to the new house. Amelia was so excited she was nearly shaking.  _ This is it!  _ Though they were quite reluctant to leave the Weasley’s behind, they avidly promised to come and visit them nearer the last few days of the summer holidays. During the farewell hugs, Hermione kept saying for them to keep up on the holiday homework, and send her an owl if they were stuck. Remus said he would pop by and visit once they were all settled in. 

“Right, are we ready?” Sirius asked them, as they prepared themselves to be pulled into an Apparition (though it would have been better to Floo, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t be detected). Her godfather had already been to the house that day to drop off Hedwig.

Within the blink of an eye, they were no longer in Grimmauld Place, but they had landed on a stone driveway. Harry had almost fallen over. Amelia just felt dizzy.

“Welcome to Black Manor.” Sirius said, gesturing in front of him.

Amelia almost fainted when she looked up. In front of her was what looked like to be a luxury mansion - the building from the outside had all red-coloured stone walls, and the foundations were solid grey.  “One man lived in this huge house?!” Harry said, referring to Dorea’s great-uncle, Alphard Black.

“Yes, though he was prone to using a good few of the rooms.” Sirius said. “Let’s get the wards sorted out.”

They walked towards the front door. Sirius explained that they all had to give him one of their hands so that he could add them to the security wards. When Amelia went first, she held her hand out whilst Sirius held the tip of his wand to her palm. She suddenly felt something akin to an electric shock buzz through her hand. She jumped back a bit. 

“What on earth?” Amelia asked, holding her hand.

“That is you added to the wards.” Sirius said sprightly, moving on to her brother. When they were all added, the door opened for them.  The front hall was smaller than what you would expect, but nonetheless it was quite big. There was a huge staircase in the middle of the room which led to the upstairs. There must have been about three doors on the left hand side of the room, whilst there were only two on the right hand side.

“Sirius, this is too much.” Amelia immediately said, “we surely don’t need all this room…”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, ‘Melia.” Sirius stroked her hair. “I promise, you’ll love it when you see what’s all in it.”

“What did your uncle do with all this space?” Dorea inquired, head craned upwards.

“Why don’t we find out?” Sirius said kindly. “I’ll show you the bedrooms.”

“There must be about twenty bedrooms!” Amelia said exasperatedly as they climbed the stairs to the first floor. “How will we ever choose just one?”

They spent what must have been nigh on an hour looking in all the 17 spacious bedrooms, trying to choose which one they wanted. It was a bit pointless - they all resembled each other. Whilst the house on the outside looked quite old - probably 1800s, on the inside, someone had been to clean, tidy and modernise it. There was no old wallpaper or paint at all - in fact, most of the bedrooms were perfectly white walled.  “Sirius, I think I like this bedroom the most.” Amelia called out. It felt quite cosy, and the bed was a four-poster one. What she liked most was the view out of the window - she could see the massive front garden and would be able to see who was coming and going.

“Okie dokie,” Sirius said, though he continued. “Amelia, what’s your favourite colour scheme? As in, colours that you think really look good together?”

A bit confused by his question, Amelia had a think. “Erm.. I quite like yellow and light gray together.”

“Say no more,” Sirius said, and with one flick of his wand, the bedroom walls transformed. The wall where the bed was up against turned into a light (but not too bright) yellow, whilst the other walls turned light grey to match.

“Woah!” Dorea had walked past the door at that exact moment. 

“There’s more,” Sirius said, and turned to his goddaughter again. “What bedroom furniture do you want?”

“Sirius, please, I don’t need much.” She insisted.

“This is my treat to all of you, so please do not hold back. It isn’t costing me anything.” Sirius pleaded.

With a harrumph, Amelia had another think. “Erm, I’d quite like a desk for studying at,”

At her words, Sirius conjured up a desk. It was white in colour so it didn’t clash with the grey wall it was up against, and it was neither too long or too short in length. 

“A dressing table with a mirror,” she added. A white coloured one appeared along the longest wall beside the already installed wardrobe. “An armchair, nothing too fancy” she added, and one appeared. Lastly, she said, “and a chest of drawers.” There was already a bedside table on either side of the bed.

Taking a look at her completely furnished bedroom, Amelia felt a lump form in her throat.  _ Oh, go away emotions,  _ she urged,  _ why are you crying over having your own bedroom? _ She needed to thank her godfather for this - it was way beyond what anyone had ever done for her. “Thank you, Sirius, for all of this.” She tried so hard to not let her voice break. 

Her godfather smiled warmly. “Enjoy it, my dear, because by all the gods you deserve it.”

She started unpacking her trunk whilst Sirius went with Dorea and Harry to sort out their bedrooms. Dorea’s bedroom was right down the opposite end of the corridor, and it looked miles away. When she went to see, she saw that her godsister had chosen a simple two shades of blue wall colour scheme. She’d also gotten a study desk and a dressing table, but instead of an armchair there was an L-shaped sofa by the window.

Harry’s bedroom (on the next floor up) was rather patriotic to Gryffindor - his walls were coloured red and gold. Her brother had mostly the same furniture as she did, except he had asked for a bookcase beside his wardrobe. That reminded Amelia that she wanted some floating shelves - she’d ask Sirius another time.

Sirius continued their tour of the house, now that they had chosen their bedrooms. The house kept rendering them speechless - for Sirius showed them that, taking up quite a lot of room on the top floor of the house was a library.  _ His uncle Alphard must’ve been some avid reader, _ Amelia thought,  _ or maybe he just had it to show off to guests.  _ She only had a brief walk throughout the room, and discovered there were some Muggle novels as well - Jane Austen, J.R.R Tolkien, and Bernard Cromwell among some of the few. There were even some books regarding some of Hogwarts' curriculum.  _ I’ll definitely have a read of some of those. _

On the bottom floor of the east wing of the house, they discovered, was a whole room dedicated to an apothecary, and then there was something they were desperate to try out - a Potions workspace. It wasn’t a dank dungeons space - far from it, the room was actually naturally well lit, and there were plenty of work benches. It felt like a classroom, but a far more relaxing one.

“Does this mean that we could brew potions in here?” Harry asked.

“What else would you use it for?” Sirius replied, leaning against the door. “The apothecary has been recently topped up too - every ingredient under the sun is in there.”

“This is amazing!” Amelia realised, “We could actually make Potions without Snape growling over our shoulders every five seconds, and do it at our own pace!”

To top it all off, the house also came with what they soon realised were duelling chambers - there were rows of some magical dummy’s, and you could even change the settings on them to fit and mimic a certain type of situation - some of the settings were “ambush”, “NEWT level student”, “Death Eater” and “Auror”.

They would definitely be trying them out at some point - with Voldemort returning, they would need to be prepared.

The last part of the property they toured was the back garden - and they were even more blown away, as there was a makeshift quidditch pitch - three hoops on one side, and another three on the other. There was also an equipment shed, where the balls were kept in a case. Amelia noticed there were also different models of brooms - from Shooting Stars to Nimbus’s to Cleansweeps and even an old Silver Arrow. There were also 2 broomstick servicing kits collecting dust.  At the corner of the garden, Amelia even saw a medium-sized but very run down greenhouse. She asked her godfather about it.

“There used to be plenty of plants in there, but the house elves just removed them as they were all long-dead.” Was Sirius’s answer.

_ This is going to be so good,  _ Amelia thought to herself as she watched Hedwig fly around the front garden from her window that afternoon.  _ Our family dynamic is now official. _

After their first ever dinner in their new home (the two house elves, called Ditsy and Dippey, cooked them up a delicious roast chicken), Harry went up to his brand-spanking new bedroom and was unpacking his books onto the bookshelf. He wanted to get everything exactly where he wanted it - he had put all his clothes away in the wardrobe and drawers. 

As soon as the last book, -  _ Quidditch Through The Ages, _ was slotted perfectly in between  _ Quidditch: A History _ and  _ Quidditch Teams of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,  _ he got to work on setting up his study table. It was only seven p.m., he could easily get started on more schoolwork. He sorted through them all and, rather reluctantly, pulled out a homework for Divination.

To this day, he still had no clue  _ why  _ he even chose to do it back in third year. He was now going into fifth year - they were to do their O.W.L’s this year - he’d rather throw himself off the roof than sit a Divination exam. 

That got him thinking.  _ What is on at the same time as Divination for third and fourth year?  _ He remembered - for Hermione, Amelia and Dorea had Ancient Runes. That subject had always caught his eye for some reason - he had liked the look of it, but Seamus and Dean said it was very hard and was like learning a new language, so it put him off it. They claimed that Arithmancy wasn’t as hard, but a lot of numerology was involved.  _ I wonder, though… _

Harry, thinking himself slightly stupid for contemplating changing a class and learning 2 more with 3 weeks to go until he was back at school, felt a wave of curiousness go through him. He went in search of his godfather.

Sirius was still down in the kitchen, wiping the worktops down. He had a cup of tea steaming away on the table. “Harry! What’s up?” The man greeted.

“Sirius,” he smiled back.

“So, are you enjoying the house? I know it might seem  _ too  _ much, but it’s got everything we could ever want. And after… not being able to raise you, Amelia and Dorea for so long, I just thought it would make up for those absent years.” Sirius said.

“I love it, it’s great!” Harry admitted. “I cannot wait to use all the rooms.”

“Do you want a cuppa?” Sirius gestured to the kettle. 

“Oh, yeah, please.” He replied. When he sat down at the table with his cup of tea, Harry started enquiring. “Did you ever take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy at school?”

Sirius swallowed. “Nah, they weren't really my thing. Remus took it though - he did both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy with your mum,” he paused, “Why?”

“Well, I just had a thought… I do not wish to continue with Divination this year.” Harry said, a bit surprised his mum took (arguably) the two toughest subjects.

Sirius looked doubtful. “It might be a bit late to change subjects now, pup. There’s only three weeks left of summer. What’s with the sudden change of mind?”

“Well, I just thought… Divination is pointless.” (Sirius adamantly agreed with that statement). “Though I haven’t totally decided what I want to do after school, if I wanted to be an Auror it would be a pointless subject to take. I think that having Ancient Runes and Arithmancy would qualify me more. Plus, Professor Trelawney is a bit… odd.”

“I see.” Sirius was looking at him. “Do you have any prior knowledge of Ancient Runes or Arithmancy? Did you take either one as one of your electives in third year?”

“No.” Harry admitted weakly. That didn’t really stand him in great stead - he wanted to swap Arithmancy and Ancient Runes but had literally no idea what either of them entailed.  _ Sirius probably thinks I’m a right dunce, going in blind. _

“Dorea and Amelia do it though?” Sirius seemed to remember.

“Yeah, they’ve been doing it since third year. Hermione too.” Harry said. He remembered them speaking about it. “There’s a lot of theory to them, and even Hermione says they’re tough.”

“Think of it logically, Harry,” Sirius started explaining, “Could you learn two years of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy content in three weeks?”

Harry could already tell this wasn’t going to work out in his favour. “No, I don’t think so.”

Sirius threw in a curveball, though. “But, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

He almost choked on his tea, not expecting his godfather to have that much faith in him. “You think I could do it?”

“Whilst it sounds unlikely, it can be done.” Sirius put his cup down. “Do you want me to Floo Professor McGonagall and ask her?”

Harry remembered, “But I thought we couldn’t Floo call anyone? What if the Ministry detects it?”

Sirius looked smug. “Dumbledore did a little experiment with that - he got someone he knows that works in the Floo Monitoring department to watch the network as he made a call from this house. He said it didn’t even come up.”

“Oh, really? So we can Floo call and the Ministry won’t find out about this house?” Harry said spritely.

“Precisely, little Prongs. Especially since the Ministry thinks this house was demolished after poor old uncle Alphard kicked the bucket.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Kingsley deleted the record of this house for us - the Ministry thinks it no longer exists, so it is not on their radar at all.” Sirius leaned back in his seat.

“As if today could get better! That was a clever thing to do.” Harry said, mesmerised.

Sirius went into the huge living room, and Harry thought he looked quite comical as he stuck his head in the fireplace. He soon heard the tones of his Transfiguration teacher, Minerva McGonagall.

He didn’t expect her to turn up  _ in  _ the living room just a few minutes later. She looked a bit odd in casual wear. “Mr Potter, I hear you want to take up  _ two  _ completely new subjects? With just over three weeks of break left?” 

Harry slightly cringed as she said it - her tone suggested that it was entirely a stupid thing to even think of doing.  “Erm, well, I know it sounds mad, Professor, but Sirius said it could be done.” Harry offered, looking a bit sheepish.

“It can, but it would require a good few hours of study every day to even get through third year material. Not to mention, in fourth year Ancient Runes you start translating Runic transcripts… It will be tough going, Potter, but I could speak to Professor’s Vector and Babbling for you this evening?” McGonagall didn’t think him a loon, then. That was promising. 

A thought came to him then. “Oh, Professor, I could ask Amelia and Dorea if they still have their notes from third and fourth year? Surely that would be a good start?”

“Yes, that would be beneficial, though it might make as much sense as Gobbledygook.” She turned to Sirius. “This house has a library on the top floor, does it not?”

“Yes, Minerva, it does. I am sure there would be a few introduction books there. They might explain it more simply, but surely it would stick more?” His godfather answered.

“Indeed,” McGonagall turned back to him. “I would do some digging for some introductory books, Potter, and ask your twin and godsister about those notes. No doubt they still refer back to them from time to time. If all else fails, ask Miss Grainger.”

He nodded. McGonagall told Sirius that she would Floo call Professor Vector and Professor Babbling (he knew them to see them, but that was about it) as soon as she got back. With that, she Floo’d back to her own home.

“Well,” Sirius said, “Looks like it can be achieved. I would do some digging in the library.”

Harry did just that. It took him a few minutes, and the books looked like they were written for first years, but he thanked Alphard Black’s resourcefulness. Flipping through the pages, he noticed a good few word bank’s and glossaries that explained the terms in really,  _ really  _ simple language.  _ This will definitely be easier for me, a complete beginner,  _ he thought as he meandered back down to his bedroom. He would enquire about the notes tomorrow.

By ten o’clock, Harry had gotten through two chapters of the Ancient Runes intro book. He could understand why Runes needed to be translated, and even correctly guessed why they would still be used today.  _ I’m on track,  _ Harry thought,  _ it may not even be the nitty-gritty super-hard stuff yet, but it is a start nonetheless. _

He just hoped Professor’s Vector and Babbling were fair. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. A Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is quite long as well, but I hope you'll enjoy it.
> 
> If you're loving this so far, give kudos and comment! It's much appreciated, as it gets this story seen by more and more.

Amelia Potter was a tad confused when she went down into the kitchen for breakfast and seen, sitting in the living room, was her Arithmancy teacher, Professor Vector.  “Professor?” She said, a bit surprised.

“Ah, Miss Potter, good to see you.” Vector replied, looking cheerful, as if it had been some arranged meeting.

“Erm, yeah, you too,” she paused, “how did you-”

“-get access to your safehouse?” Vector supplied for her. “Dumbledore gave me access for my meeting with your godfather. Sirius is just through in the kitchen, making me tea. Your twin brother will be joining us as well.”

“Why are you meeting them, may I ask?” She replied politely, but was still confused.

“Well, your brother wishes to take up Arithmancy, and also Ancient Runes with Professor Babbling.”

“Is this a joke?” Amelia almost laughed. 

Vector smiled knowingly. “McGonagall said he literally only thought of the idea last night. You must’ve been up in your room, for she was told of this by seven p.m yesterday.”

Sirius came through then, and he saw Amelia in the doorway. “You can join us, if you want, Amelia.”

“I think I should. This is all new information for me.” She sat down on the singular armchair across from the fireplace.

Harry entered, looking presentable for once. She instantly spoke to him. “Why on earth have you decided to take up two subjects?” She asked, amused.

“Look, I know it sounds stupid, but I think it can be done.” He replied, his face flushing a slight crimson. 

Once they were all seated (Dorea would probably end up joining them, once she woke up and came downstairs), Babbling started speaking. “Well, Mr Potter, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Professor Vector, and if you are able to join the O.W.L Arithmancy class, I will be your teacher for it. I have brought with me some short leaflets which explain the overview of the course.” She reached into her bag and passed her twin brother one. She gave him a few moments to scan his eyes over it before she continued. “I will warn you, Arithmancy is no walk in the park. Even your friend Miss Grainger finds it tricky, and I’m sure Amelia and Dorea could tell you all about the essays.” 

At that, Amelia mouthed to him “ _ they are hellish”,  _ which he nervously smiled at. Vector carried on. “All the content is explained in the leaflet. Now, I’ve brought a spare copy of the textbook -  _ Numerology and Grammatica.  _ This is the only textbook you will be needing. It looks massive, but that’s because it is the book we always refer to in class, over all the levels.”

“I found some introduction books last night in the library upstairs, Professor. It uses really simple language, but I think it would be better to also use it alongside, for the terminology and that.” Harry answered, still sounding a bit meek. “I found some for Ancient Runes too, which I’ve started reading.”

“Feel free to use it too. It seems you are determined to take this course, Mr Potter.” Vector smiled kindly. “You can always ask to see your sisters’ notes too.”

Amelia nodded. “I still have my third and fourth year ones. Dorea probably does too.”

“Oh, why are we all in here? I thought..” Dorea had finally risen. She had just walked into the room at that very moment. However, she drifted off when she saw Professor Vector.

“Miss Black, it’s good to see you.” Vector said.

“You too, Professor. Why.. Why are you here?” Was Dorea’s confused response.

“I’m going to take up Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.” This time, Harry said it with confidence.

“Oh, as a hobby? It’s a good pastime, translating and that-”

“-No, as subjects at Hogwarts.” Harry cut in.

“What? But you’ve never taken them before…”

“I’m going to drop Divination.” He replied, “Professor Vector is telling me about the subject.”

Dorea was silent as she took it all in. “Oh, well I suppose that means you’ll be joining us in class then.”

Sirius, who had been quiet up until now, spoke. “You and Amelia might have to supply him with your old notes from third and fourth year, to catch him up.”

“It’s going to be a tight squeeze, cramming in all the information before we go back. Are you sure you’re up to it?” Dorea said as she sat down next to her father on the couch across from Vector.

“I’ll give it a bash.” Harry exhaled.

“There’s one more thing,” Vector said after she finished her tea. “Before I can let you on to the class, you will have to sit some tests for both third and fourth year content.”

Harry had a feeling he wouldn’t just be taken on to the course without proven study. “Oh, okay. Will there be a time to sit it?”

“I won’t give you the tests until the twenty-sixth,” Vector said, “Just over two and a half weeks away. I think Professor Babbling will likely do the same for Ancient Runes, but probably on different days.”  _ I’m going to have a busy few weeks,  _ Harry thought, cringing a bit.  _ I just hope it will be worth it.  _ Plus, he needed to find some time to brew potions, for he wanted to find out what brewing was really like without having a greasy git like Snape constantly berating in your ear.

Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes professor, dropped by just before midday. Like Vector, she was a friendly woman, and had kind eyes. She also gave him a content leaflet and textbooks, though they probably already had copies up in the library, but he took them anyway.  Babbling confirmed that she would come over and issue Harry his Ancient Runes tests on the twenty-seventh. 

At lunch, he sat at the kitchen table, again thinking. He had so much work to do now, and alongside studying for two new subjects, he had to do the holiday homeworks (he had no intentions of doing the Divination work, meaning he only had three to do). Plus, they were going to visit Grimmauld Place the day the school book lists arrived, which would take probably the whole day.  “Do you want me to get my notes and to put them in your bedroom?” Amelia asked him once she had finished her soup and scone. 

“Oh, erm.. Yeah, whatever.” Harry replied, a bit more gruff than he intended. “Sorry.” He added at the end, just to be sure.  Dorea went to do the same, apologising in advance as she couldn’t exactly remember if they were doodled on. It was just Sirius and him left in the room. As he was eating, he could feel his godfather's eyes on him. His eyes were in fact peeking over at him from behind the newspaper he was reading.

“Am I being really stupid about this, Sirius?” Harry blurted, suddenly feeling overcome with insecurity.

“What?” His godfather looked incredulous. “Harry, whilst you’re certainly challenging yourself by taking up Runes and Arithmancy, it’s by no means stupid. ”

“Will you still want me if I fail the tests? Are you going to send me back to the Dursley’s if I do?” He said, a bit more quietly.

Sirius closed the newspaper. “Harry James Potter, look at me this instant.”

Interpreting his godfather's tone to mean that he was in big trouble, he suddenly felt awful. He made eye contact with Sirius, who instead spoke in a much gentler voice. “What’s this strop about, eh? Why on earth would I send you back to that _ hell  _ over, what, a few wrong answers on a piece of paper? If you do pass the tests, great, I’ll be super delighted. But if you fail, I’ll also be proud.”

“But why?” Harry exasperated. “It means I have to still take Divination, I’ll look and sound like a right dunce when McGonagall finds out I fail-”

“- _ Harry, _ ” Sirius said in a warning tone. When he stopped, the man continued, “You’ve already proven your determination to learn by deciding to do this just last night. Now who else in wizarding Britain could say that? Probably nobody. The point is, even if you do fail the tests, they do not take into account all the hard work that you will do. Exams do not test knowledge - rather, most of them are just memory tests. They do not take into account any other factor except how good your recollection skills are on the day. Do not fret about the tests just now - you focus on getting the two years of content into your brain, whatever it takes, so you can whizz the entry exam. I do not care if you get a T, a P or an O - I will be happy whatever the result, Harry, and nothing less than chuffed that you tried your absolute hardest. Remember that - because that applies to all your tests and exams.”

Feeling a lot better, Harry felt a surge of affection for his godfather. He felt stupid for even being so damn insecure about it - he had the support of his sister, godsister and godfather. That was the boost that he needed.  Finishing off his lunch, Harry went to wash his plate and cutlery in the sink. He noticed a few washed dishes waiting to be dried on the rack, and so got to work. For some reason he didn’t even remember wiping down the surfaces until Sirius got in his way. “Woah, kiddo, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean? I’m cleaning up after myself.” Harry was confused.

“We do have house-elves, you know.” Sirius said, “and you don’t need to do the worktops.”

“Oh, it’s just.. Habit.” Harry said, realising that his old routine hadn’t quite left him yet.

“How’s it a habit? You don’t clean up after yourself at Hogwarts, do you?” Sirius asked, sounding concerned. Harry realised that he’d caught on.

“Erm, no, it’s just… Me and Amelia, at the Dursley’s we were... rather forced into doing all the cleaning.” He had said before he could stop himself.

“What?”

“It’s nothing, Sirius, please, it was just a bit of housework-”

“-Harry.”

He sighed, and cursed himself.  _ Well done for letting that slip, you tosser!  _ He said to himself. 

“When did they start doing this?”

“Erm, I can’t really remember.” He said meekly, but when he saw Sirius’s face, he reconsidered and came clean. “Five years old.”

“You what?!” Sirius barked.

Sirius Black was counting from one to ten in his head, in French  _ and _ Spanish, because if he didn’t he was pretty sure he was about to explode with anger in front of his already terrified-looking godson.  _ Them utter, vile HAGS!  _ He raged invertedly.  _ They’ve forced them to do all the chores since five years of age?! That is nigh on child labour! _

_ “ _ What did they make you two do?” He tried to ask as calmly as possible, but he’d gotten to 7 in Spanish and his anger was only bubbling more. He switched to counting in Latin instead.

“Sirius, I said it was just a bit of housework-”

“-I do not want to bite your head off, Harry, but you better start telling me the truth or I might accidentally shout and I do not want to scare you-”

“Okay, okay, fine. We had to get up at seven, one of us would prepare breakfast, the other would set the table, and then we’d have to clean up or get a smack. Then, we’d get to eat, but only the leftovers. After that, it was wiping down all the worktops and getting all the dirt on the floor so that then we’d get the hoover - erm, vacuum cleaner, - and if there was even the tiniest bit missed out then neither of us would get lunch or dinner - depending on what time it was discovered at.” Harry rattled off, obviously uncomfortable.

He’d heard enough. “They  _ hit  _ you? Both you and Amelia?”

“Y-yes, can I go back upstairs now? I should really get on with studying.” His godson pleaded, eying up the kitchen door as if it was his lifeline, his only escape. 

A horrible image popped into his head, - the young twins being screamed at, hit, punched and taunted by that horrible brother in-law of Lily’s. How someone as lovely as Lily could have had such a vile sister as Petunia, Sirius never knew. He wanted to be sick when his mind conjured up an image of sweet little Amelia, in tears, huddling Harry for safety. He didn’t notice he was welling up.  “On you go,” Sirius said, in a weak voice, as he let Harry go. Trying to sound strong, he said as he was about to leave the room, “I’ll be up in a while, to help with your work.” Hi godson merely nodded before leaving.

He sat down at the table, and rubbed his temples. He couldn’t help but whimper as he tried to stifle his cries.  _ James,  _ he thought, desperately,  _ I’m so sorry I was so reckless… If I hadn’t gone after Peter, your babies would have been safe with me. Your little angel would never ever know pain if I just hadn’t..  _ Dorea entered the kitchen then, apparently she was going to make a cup of tea before doing a spot of reading. As she put a spoonful of brown sugar into the cup, she noticed him having a little mope. “Dad? Are you alright?”

“Sweetheart, sit with me a moment.” Sirius asked in such a meek voice, as if she was a child.

“Eh, okay. Are you tearing up?” His daughter looked confused.

He took her soft hand in his. “You’ve never been… abused, have you?”

She looked horrified. “What? No! Kaspar and Sofia never even  _ shouted _ at me. How could you even suggest that?!”

“It’s not about them, it’s the Dursley’s.” He said, wiping his face.

His daughter seemed to have an inkling. “Did Harry tell you, then?”

“You knew?” 

“Well, from Amelia.” She paused, and Sirius thought he was looking at a carbon copy of himself as her nostrils flared in anger.  _ Marlene did the same when she was affronted,  _ he remembered, in a moment of fondness. “They are  _ horrible _ , dad. Why Dumbledore insisted they go back there year after year knowing that they were mistreated is disgusting. I’ve always had half a mind to report them to muggle police.”

Wave 2 of anger soon started, as he bit back even more at his daughter’s words.. “He knew?”

“Yes.” Dorea nodded.

Put it this way, at the next Order meeting, Sirius was going to give that old pensioner a right good rant, and it was _ not  _ going to be pretty.

Sat at his study desk in his bedroom (it still felt weird, having one to himself), Harry busied himself with Arithmancy work. He had almost finished the first chapter in the Intro book, he just needed to finish one more section before he could take the “ _ Test Your Knowledge”  _ quiz at the end of the chapter.  He was on the last question of the small test, and was trying to think of the answer, when he felt a small wave of pain sear through his head. He soon realised that his scar was stinging again.  _ What on earth are you doing now, Voldemort?  _ He thought, sick unto death of the pain and how it had inconvenienced his thinking. 

Just thinking of Voldemort made something spring to Harry’s head. He had thought of this a few weeks ago now - when Voldemort inevitably rose again, the wizarding world had to be prepared, else normal magic life as they know it might change. If he won, Voldemort would be a dictator, and he would be utterly ruthless to literally everybody.  In order to beat him and kill him for good, wizards and witches had to unite - muggleborns, half-bloods and pure-bloods alike. It had to be done. There needed to be a level of cooperation, in order to achieve the prevention of horror. Else, when the time would come to face him, there would be cracks, and fractures. A football team that went onto the pitch with virtually no aim, friendship nor dynamic within all members of the team could not hope to win. That was the same with the magical community - prejudices and rivalries needed to be put aside. Who cares if somebody came from a certain family, or was in a certain house at Hogwarts? It was not the time to be worrying about things like that - for there were far bigger things coming. 

Harry, in yet another moment of madness, came up with the idea of unifying most, if not all of Hogwarts. It would certainly be a start - a large body of magical students that could all form opinions. There were certainly prejudices at school - he’d heard and experienced it first hand thanks to Draco Malfoy and his gang. Even if a particular house didn’t agree with standing beside anyone that wasn’t pureblooded, Gryffindor’s, Ravenclaw’s and Hufflepuff’s uniting would certainly be a great achievement. Add a good few Slytherin’s to that, and it would probably become some sort of wizarding world record.

_ But **how** would I all unite them?  _ He thought to himself,  _ It’s not something that can be done overnight, it needs to be something - a cause, a message or something. _

Then he thought - a club.

Not just any club - when he thought about it, the only good Defence Against the Dark Arts professor they had over the past few years was Remus. That was back in third year for him. Though they thought Mad-Eye Moody was a tough but good Professor, discovering that a man who was meant to be long dead was impersonating him with Polyjuice Potion was certainly a kick in the teeth. Gilderoy Lockheart and Professor Quirrell, though… They didn’t learn anything useful with either of them. It was a wonder anyone passed first and second year.  To put it simply, most years were actually behind in terms of knowing Defensive spells. 

_ But if I thought of this club, they’ll expect me to be their teacher, their guide…  _ He kept on thinking, and then it clicked. 

_ Well, it seems I have to take up responsibility and leadership at some point in my life. _

Harry would be the leader of this club. 

He heard a knock at his door, and jumped round in fright. It was just Sirius, looking more calm and cheerful after his slight episode earlier. “Sorry if I scared you,” his godfather said as he stepped towards him. “How’s the studying?”

“I’ve just finished one chapter of this Intro book, and once I do that I’ll move on to the first chapter of  _ Numerology and Grammatica. _ ” Harry answered, as he gestured towards the book. 

“I would have thought you’d want to start using the potions room.” Sirius said from behind his chair.  Harry felt conflicted again - he _did_ want to start brewing, but he had prioritised his workload, and he didn’t feel like reordering it anytime soon. He had tonnes to do. “Erm, maybe another time.”

“Come on, Harry, you’ve been studying for hours. You can’t swamp yourself with Arithmancy or Runes, because you’ll soon find that your brain will turn off. Taking a break and occupying yourself with something else is the best way not to overwork yourself.” Sirius reasoned.

Harry did know what he meant - the last thing he wanted was to be getting stressed out this early into the third year content. “Oh, well, okay then. Just for an hour or so.”

“Great! Let’s go and see if your sisters want to join us.”

They soon found out that Amelia was already headed down to the potions room, and she joined them. However, when they entered, they found Dorea too, sitting in a chair with a cauldron bubbling away in front of her.

“How long have you been down here?” Amelia asked. 

“Just for twenty minutes or so. I’m literally working through the fourth year Potions, because I barely scraped an A in any of them.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius stopped in his tracks.

“Well, the thing with Snape is, even though our Potions turn out quite good, he always marks anyone except the Slytherin’s down. Even Hermione gets mediocre grades in class. Plus, Crabbe and Goyle have been known to sabotage - those gits are always throwing stuff into the potion at a crucial stage.” Dorea said as she started to stir her potion. At Harry’s curious look, she answered, “I’m currently brewing a Wit-Sharpening Potion. It’s at the simmering stage.”

Harry had no clue what on earth he was even going to make. However, on one of the shelves at the back of the room was a copy of _ Magical Draughts & Potions  _ by Arsenius Jigger. Flipping the book open to a random page, he landed on the Sleeping Draught.  _ Hopefully it helps get rid of the nightmares.  _ He still had horrible dreams about the night of the Third Task. They would probably plague him forever. He hadn’t had one since they moved to Black Manor, but that wasn’t to say they’d stopped completely. They’d probably come back with a vengeance soon enough. 

Going next door into the apothecary to gather his ingredients, he noticed that Amelia was starting on a simple Wiggenweld Potion, which they made in first year. “I’m going to work through all the Potions we did from each year,” she proclaimed.

Ingredients gathered, Harry chose a workbench and got his cauldron and scales set up and ready. He was going to take his time with this - there was no rush or expectation looming.  Harry took his time to read the instructions and carefully prepared the ingredients before even lighting his cauldron so that they were ready to go with no hassle or fumbling about. 

After 70 minutes, He had finally completed his first potion unsupervised. He couldn’t believe how stressless it had been - he’d barely even looked up once. He could understand why you needed to always be ready to stir at the exact moment and why the number of stirs you did would either make or break your potion. He felt on cloud nine.  As he ladled the Sleeping Draught into two bottles and capped them, he wondered if he was able to brew another one. He wanted to try and test himself in the duelling room at one point, against those dummies, to see just how up to speed he was - and he figured he might pick up a few bruises doing that. He flipped through the books on the back shelf until he found one with the Wiggenweld Potion. Even though Amelia was making it as well, he wanted his own supply. 

He was amazed, really, for this was the first time they’d ever been quiet. Nobody had spoken for over an hour - they were engrossed. He didn’t want to disturb the peace, so meandered back to his workbench.  Harry was going to need to be on his feet with this one - there was a lot of stirring and adding to be done, and they needed to be at the exact same time. Preparing the ingredients carefully, Most of it was just salamander blood, lionfish spines, flobberworm mucus and honey water. With everything measured out, he got ready to use one hand for adding, and the other for stirring.

Sirius couldn’t believe how quiet the house was, now that all of his wards were in the potions room, brewing away.  _ Good on them,  _ he thought. He knew that they were very talented kids at Potions, it was just a shame that Snivellus marked them down. How that man ever got to be a teacher, he never knew. Now, their skills for the subject had a chance to shine through. He knew they were making most of the chilled environment.

Feeling a bit bored as he just wandered aimlessly throughout the rooms on the bottom floor, Sirius had an inkling that he didn’t have to listen out for them, as they seemed to have everything under control. The house was unlikely to erupt in flames anytime soon, so he had an idea.  He went into the living room, and crouched in front of the fireplace. Grabbing a handful of Floo powder, he spoke the name of his childhood home and stuck his head in.

He was met with the sight of Ginny Weasley sitting at the kitchen table. It sounded like she was talking to someone.  “Ginny!” He tried not to frighten her. She jumped slightly, but relaxed when she realised who it was.

“Oh, Sirius.” She said, turning in her seat. “How is the house?”

“It’s great, we all love it. Listen, is Remus there?”

“I think he’s upstairs, shall I go get him for you?”

“Yes, please.”

With that, Ginny briskly left the room and returned almost a minute later with Remus in tow. His friend's face lit up at the sight of him. “Sirius!”

“Do you want to come and visit us, then?” Was all he said.

“Of course! Can’t stay for too long, though, I’ve got an errand to run at four.”

Sirius stood back from the fireplace, and waited for the _whoosh_ sound to signal Remus was coming through. When his friend stepped out from the fireplace, he grinned.

“You, my friend, have a lot to catch up on.” Sirius said as he gestured to him to follow him through to the kitchen. “Tea, coffee?”

“Coffee with two sugars please - oh, and black. Tonks got me hooked on coffee. Superb beverage.” Moony replied, sitting down.  _ I bet she did,  _ Sirius thought, smirking. Remus spoke again, “Where are the kids?”

“Brewing potions.” Sirius said, mirthfully.

“Eh?” Remus looked utterly bamboozled. “Potions? Christ, Sirius, how big is this place?”

“I’m sure they’ll give you a royal tour.” He replied, sitting opposite him. “Now, would you send me to St Mungo’s if I told you that our dear Harry is going to be taking Arithmancy _ and _ Ancient Runes in his upcoming fifth year?”

Remus’s mouth almost fell open. “But… He’s never studied them before?”

“Precisely.” Sirius answered, “He can do it, Moony, I know he can - he’s just got to study the third and fourth year content for both and sit tests for them in just over two weeks time. They’re like his entry exams - if he passes them, he can take them.”

Remus looked like he wanted to say many things. “Has that boy gone bonkers? Do you realise how much he’s going to have to cram in?”

“He’s dropping Divination to take them up too,” he added.

Moony still wasn’t convinced. “Lily took to those subjects like a duck to water, but still… It doesn’t mean he’ll be naturally gifted at it.”

“Well, why don’t you tutor him in it?” Sirius said, leaning back slightly in his chair, “You got an E in both of them at N.E.W.T level, Moony.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m qualified to teach him about them. Also, I only _ just _ got an E in them both - if I had lost four marks in Ancient Runes and six in Arithmancy, I would have got A’s in them instead” He replied, briskly.

“Well, giving him a few pointers would help ease him, so he’s not doing everything himself.” Sirius settled at that. “He seems to be doing okay - he’s just started chapter one of  _ Numerology and Grammatica.  _ I can’t remember what he said about the Ancient Runes stuff.”

Remus swigged his coffee, and sighed. “Well, I’ll talk to him. See what he says. He might not catch up in time, though.”

“Worst comes to worst, he can sit the O.W.L for them in sixth year. I think he’ll be gutted if he doesn’t get on to them this year, though - he’s really determined. I had to persuade him to stop studying and to go and brew some potions.” Sirius explained.

It was quiet for a few moments, as they just chilled out. He asked Moony about how things were back at Grimmauld Place - he said that Dorea’s guardians, Kaspar and Sofia, had officially joined the Order, and were sad not to have seen her at Grimmauld Place (he couldn’t explain Black Manor to anybody outside the inhabitants of Number 12). Sirius made a mental note to tell his daughter to send them an owl. He was thankful she was raised by some loving guardians, at least. He would have to meet them at some point, to find out what his baby girl was like as a child.

They could hear the noises of Harry, Amelia and Dorea as they walked down the vast corridor of the house, and they were probably making their way towards the kitchen. When they entered, they ran at Remus and hugged him individually.  “What are you doing here?” Harry had asked, elated.

“Sirius offered me to come and visit, how could I turn him down?” Moony said, jovially. “I heard you three have been brewing potions.”

“We were in there almost three hours,” Amelia explained, “I cannot believe how straightforward it actually is without Snape.”

“I wonder what we’re brewing for fifth year?” Dorea pondered aloud, “I wonder if we came find out, and get a head start.”

“Hermione will wonder what on earth has happened to us.” Amelia chuckled.

Harry sat at the table, and Remus briefed them on what life was like back at Grimmauld Place. Harry smirked when he said it was quite bleak, but that Fred and George were back causing mayhem and giving their mother a few grey hairs. 

“So, Harry, you’re wanting to study Runes and Arithmancy?” Lupin said.

“Erm, yeah, if I can.” He replied. “I heard you and mum studied both of them.”

“Yes, we did. She was a natural at them, even though Runes is like a whole new language, she whizzed it. Which one have you found easier, so far?”

Harry had a think. Though Numerology was going to take some time to come to him fully, the Runic language was mostly just symbols that represented letters, which weren’t that difficult. “Definitely Runes,” he replied, “It’s sticking more, at this stage.”

“Well, I can stay until three fifty - I’ve got to get back to London by four, so how about I go over a few Arithmancy things with you in the meantime.”

“Yeah, that would be good, after I’ve drank my tea we can do that.” Harry replied, sounding optimistic. Remus had passed Arithmancy at N.E.W.T level, so that made him feel a lot better. He’d be getting tutored by somebody who knew his stuff.

In the meantime, though, Harry wanted to voice his earlier thought - about starting the club at Hogwarts. He didn’t quite know how to start saying it, though.  Amelia nudged him, “What are you thinking about?”

He noticed that Dorea also looked curious from across the table. Remus and Sirius were in a deep conversation about Grimmauld Place again, so he spoke just loud enough for the girls to hear. “When we go back to school, I want to start a club up.”

Amelia’s eyebrows lifted upwards a bit. “A club? What kind of club?” Dorea wanted to know as well.

Sirius had heard as well, “Who said something about a club?”

Harry spoke up a bit. “Well, I’ve been thinking - when Voldemort inevitably comes back and tries to take over, we all need to be prepared. That goes for everybody - muggleborns, half-bloods, pure-bloods, everybody in the wizarding world. We all need to… unite, as one, no matter what, else we’ll all be living in misery.”

He paused for a second, as his throat was getting a bit dry, so he gulped down his tea. Dorea spoke in his little interval. “What does this have to do with starting a club up at Hogwarts?”

“That’s the thing - this club, I’m thinking of leading it, in order to teach proper offensive and defensive spells. I’m the only one here that’s fought Voldemort and lived to tell the tale. We’ve had one good Defence Against the Dark Arts professor since our time at Hogwarts,” he looked at Remus, who almost blushed, “which makes us very behind in terms of knowing what to expect in a situation where we have to defend ourselves and fight back. I want this club to be for everyone - Gryffindor’s, Hufflepuff’s, Ravenclaw’s, and Slytherin’s. I just… Want them to know that joining the Death Eaters isn’t their only option in life, that it doesn’t have to be that way, and that we are all just witches and wizards at the end of the day - how much magical blood we have, or what family we belong to, doesn’t matter.”

He took a deep breath when he was finished, and was met with a few moments of silence. Amelia let out a low whistle, and Dorea was clearly thinking. 

Remus shared a look with Sirius - and they were both gobsmacked (in a good way). This was very deep thinking for Harry, merely fifteen years of age. He was offering to not only  _ lead _ a club, but to teach his fellow students life-saving knowledge, no matter what House they were in? Remus found himself lost for words. He was even willing to accept Slytherin’s into this club of his.

“Well, it’s optimistic, and a really good idea, Harry.” Amelia spoke. “Everything that you said about having to unite is very true.”

“Though I can’t imagine very many Slytherin’s offering to join, I’d be fine with them joining.” Dorea shrugged. “Daphne and Astoria Greengrass are actually decent.” Amelia nodded vigorously at that. “There’s Liz Tuttle in Ginny’s year as well, she’s quiet but friendly.”

Sirius spoke up. “I think you should say this to Professor McGonagall, Harry,” 

Within ten minutes, Minerva was standing in the living room, having just come out of the Floo. Remus stood near the doorway as he wanted to gage her opinion and reaction.

Harry was soon telling her about the idea for his club - and though she simply just stared at him for a minute, Remus knew she was very impressed. Amelia and Dorea even offered to help him lead it too.

“I do have to ask - what age groups do you intend to include in this club?” Minerva enquired. Remus noticed Harry pale slightly - he’d obviously not got down to full planning. “Well, I did think of a more Senior group for fifth years and upwards, and possibly a Junior group for fourth years and younger?” Remus noticed that another thought came into the boys head, “But if there are fourth years who prove that they could handle more advanced spells - such as Ginny, - then they could be in the Senior group too.”

Remus wondered why Harry mentioned Ginny in particular, but when he noticed Amelia and Dorea share a glance and a smirk he instantly knew the answer. 

Minerva stood up. “Your club would be accepted, most definitely, but I still have to get confirmation from Albus. I’m assuming at some point, you will have to market this group towards the student body?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, Professor, probably on the first or second day back.”

“That would require a sign-up sheet. However, I have an idea for you in order to go about it - I could have an enchantment put on the sign-up parchment that rejects any students from joining that are secretly marked Death Eaters.” McGonagall explained. “That way, you can be sure of no inside informers or traitors.”

Harry lit up, “That would be great, Professor! It would certainly help take that worry off our shoulders.”

Minerva smiled. “Thank you for telling me this, Mr Potter, I think it is a simply brilliant idea. Never before has something like this been put into motion,” she moved back towards the fireplace. “I shall be back with confirmation in about two or three days. Good day to you all.”

When the kids were talking, Remus noticed Sirius make his way over. “I think everything’s going to fall into place for him this year,”

Remus was inclined to agree. “I think all three of them are going to really come out of their shell,” he paused, “no doubt they’ll get Ron and Hermione into this as well.”

“I just hope this club works.” Sirius said, as he meandered back into the kitchen.

_ Of course it will work,  _ Remus thought as he looked at his honorary nieces and nephew,  _ Harry is James and Lily’s son, after all. _

  
  
  
  
  



	6. Straight to Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is slightly shorter, however still covers a lot of bases.
> 
> Next chapter, I might decide to include the day Harry sits his Arithmancy and Ancient Runes tests, which I know if quite a big jump in time but I'll be sure to cover the events of the previous days if I do go this route. I'm excited for them to go back to Hogwarts, so that's why I'm so eager to move onwards in time haha.

Dorea woke up at half past nine the next morning, having had a long night once again reading her uncle Regulus’s letter that she had forced off Kreacher. She kept it hidden away in her bedside cabinet drawer, for safekeeping. She was unsure if she should show it to her dad - she’d heard him coldly talk about him a few times that summer, and she wouldn’t know how he’d react to the letter, for there was a chance he’d accuse it of being forged.  _ What if it is?  _ She thought. After all, she’d never even met her father’s younger brother - and she’d only discovered what he bloody looked like at the start of July. She had found nothing else in Grimmauld Place with his handwriting, so there was no way she could prove it actually was his letter. He’d also been a Death Eater - was he really deserving of her sympathy? Even if he had been forced to join, he still took part in their sick cruelty.  _ Oh, how conflicted he must have been though… He probably had no choice. _

Not quite knowing how to feel about Regulus Black, she got out of bed and got dressed. Walking what felt like a mile to the kitchen, she saw Amelia and Harry at the table. Their house elves, Ditsy and Dippey, instantly whipped up a toasted bagel for her. As they ate, they conversed. “Where’s Sirius?” Dorea asked them.

“He went for a walk around the front garden about two minutes ago, he didn’t say why.” Amelia replied.

Her dad did come back in, and hung his coat up on the hook behind the kitchen door. He said hello to her with a warm smile, and then got himself a glass of water. “What’s on the agenda today?” He asked.

“I’m going to do some Ancient Runes study, and then maybe go to the duelling rooms.” Harry said.

“I’ve got to finish that damned Transfiguration essay,” Amelia said, not sounding very excited.

Dorea had a think - she hadn’t really planned what she was going to do. “Might spend the morning picking out a few books from the library to read, do a bit of studying, and then brew. Maybe in the evening I’ll go to the duelling room.”

Sirius told them that Professor Dumbledore was coming around, but he was quite weird about it - he said it was only for a private meeting between them both, and that neither of them were allowed in on the meeting.  “What if it’s about our club?” Harry said as they walked up the staircase together, back to their prospective rooms. “What if Dumbledore rejected its planning?”

“Oh, surely not,” Amelia sighed, “McGonagall said it would be approved.”

“Yeah, but he’s been really cold towards me.” Harry said.

“Hey, what if it’s news regarding the Order?” Dorea voiced her thought, “Maybe it’s news about Hagrid, who I’ve never seen turn up for the meetings once.”

“Oh gosh, what if he’s been hurt?” Amelia gasped. 

“Who could possibly want to hurt Hagrid?” Harry answered, but still looked nervous.

“Well, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself magically, since he was expelled,” Dorea considered, “and I’m not sure if he’d be able to do wandless magic…”

It seemed neither of them wanted to think about the prospect of an injured Hagrid further, as they moved on. “I’ve already completed four chapters of the Ancient Runes Intro book, by the way!” Harry sounded pleased, “It’s coming to me much more than Arithmancy is. I wouldn’t complain if I only managed to pass Runes - we still do O.W.L’s in sixth year, don’t we?”

“Yeah, and N.E.W.T’s in seventh.” Amelia replied.

“Do you think there’s books on Potions theory in the library?” Dorea asked as her and Amelia stepped on the level their rooms were on, whilst Harry was going upstairs.

He turned to her, “Oh yeah, surely, that room has everything in it.”

They went their separate ways then. Harry continued up to his room, whilst Dorea left Amelia at her bedroom door before venturing halfway down the corridor in order to get to her own. Once she sat down at her study desk, she pulled out her Transfiguration essay. She added one last paragraph to it and a conclusion before sighing with relief that it was done. She would show Amelia her one later, in case she was still stuck on it by then.  She started the Charms essay, though it was only meant to be both sides of a parchment talking about the Severing Charm, which was actually quite easy to write about since it had more negative effects and uses than positive uses, so she finished that within forty minutes or so. Deciding to take a break, that was when she went upstairs to the library, to find out more about the theory side of Potions.

Amelia, having finally battled through the Transfiguration essay, found herself officially done with holiday homework, for she’d already finished the Charm’s one at Grimmauld Place. She sighed with relief, and felt a weight off her shoulders as she filed them away in her bag. She’d check hers against Dorea’s and Harry’s, but the consensus would definitely be that they were all fine.

Thinking about Transfiguration… She realised that she rather lacked in the theory side of things, and that her execution of the spells could be better. She thought the same regarding Charms, too.  _ This calls for a library trip,  _ she thought. 

She didn’t find her brother in there, assuming he was still revising. She must’ve spent ten minutes in the curriculum section, but she at last found what looked to be Intro books.  _ I wonder if they’re the same ones Harry’s using?  _ She would enquire later. She picked up the ones for Charms and Transfiguration before heading back downstairs.

She was utterly gobsmacked when she read the Transfiguration one - for Hogwarts were supposedly meant to issue these types of books to muggleborns or children new to the magical world when they were 11, so they knew just what magic and the magical world entailed.  _ Why weren’t me and Harry ever given these books?!  _ She thought, a bit cross - for these books would have been a great help to them. It would have helped make their spells and transfiguration theory understanding a bit better. Though she tended to get E’s in Transfiguration and Charms tests, the theory bits of both subjects puzzled her slightly.  By eleven, she felt like an expert in both subjects. She finally understood how it was mostly little mistakes that prevented perfect executions of transfiguring and casting. Even how you stood affected it.

After letting Hedwig out for some fresh air, she found herself staring at her bedroom wall, with nothing to do. It was a decent day outside - though there were clouds in the distance. She decided that she would go out and have a fly around, and possibly just set a Snitch loose and try to find it. She had no clue how far the wards and enchantments extended to, though…  _ Oh well, I’ll just have to be careful.  _ With that, Amelia even threw on her Gryffindor quidditch jumper, so it felt like she was back at school.

She lugged the quidditch equipment box out of the shed and set the golden snitch free. Giving it a few minutes head start, she then grabbed her Firebolt (which had been propped up against the shed), mounted it, and kicked off from the ground.

Starting her hunt for the snitch, she did a few laps around the house. It looked even bloody bigger on the outside, especially from forty feet in the air. She sailed along the perimeter of the front garden, considerably lower to the ground. It felt amazing to be back out.  She came to an abrupt halt, when she saw a flicker of gold hanging in the air up the other end of the front garden. Amelia instantly took off towards it, gradually accelerating. However, the blasted thing took off again, this time towards the back garden. She continued the pursuit.  Amelia circled the three keeper’s hoops on the right hand side and then continued the hunt.  After another minute or two of pursuing, Amelia finally caught the snitch whilst performing a dive.

When she touched down to the ground, she heard a clapping sound come from behind her. She turned, and saw Sirius. He came jogging over. “That was quite a performance! I could barely keep up - you are so fast on a broom.”

She shrugged it off with a wry smile. “Speed is my forte,”

“Your dad was the same,” Sirius commented, “He was definitely the fastest player on the Gryffindor team. Blink and you’d miss him.”

Amelia noticed he still sounded a little forlorn talking about his best pal. She felt her heart warm at how she related to her father, a man she hardly knew. They wandered back inside, for the clouds above were now getting closer, and looked an angrier shade of grey.  Once inside, Amelia spoke to her godfather again. “Sirius, see this evening, can we all try out the duelling rooms?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that would be good. That way, we can get an idea of where you, your brother and Dorea are at in terms of defence. We could even do a mock duel?”

“With those dummies?” She asked.

“Well, yeah initially, but I was thinking more of you three duelling me, individually.” He replied.

She hadn’t thought of it like that. “Weren’t you an Auror?”

“Yes, I was. I won’t go too crazy, don’t worry.” He grinned. 

“Also,” she paused, “can you test me on Transfiguration and Charms?”

Her godfather looked a bit confused. “Okay, but I thought you were pretty good at them?”

“Well, at the practical stuff yeah, but I’ve finally read up on the theory on both the subjects - turns out, the tiniest mistakes can hold you back from executing spells perfectly. I never quite understood the theory side of things until now.”

“I would gladly test you, Amelia,” he said, “When would you like to do it?”

“Now?” She suggested, wanting to get it out the way.

They went to the living room. Sirius found a number of items in one of the drawers and placed them on the coffee table. Amelia got her wand out.

“Okay, take your time, Amelia. Turn this matchstick into a needle.” He ordered.

She cleared her mind, and recalled both the wand movement, incantation, and stance. She was surprised, for she got the desired result the first time.

“Very good, now switch it back.” Sirius said.

She uttered a simple “ _ Reparifarge” _ , and the needle was turned back into a matchstick. She let out a small whoop in delight. Sirius smiled warmly. “Now turn this button into a beetle.” He tasked her.  Normally, it would be the other way around - turning a beetle into a button, but she assumed she was to go about it in the same way. She was right, as she flicked her wand and muttered the incantation,and now a black beetle was now occupying the place where the button had previously sat. 

For the next half hour, Sirius kept firing Transfiguration instructions at her, from first year stuff through to fourth year. After that came the Charms stuff. It was far easier and quicker - they got through all the content within twenty minutes, and Amelia felt like a master at both the subjects. If she didn’t get them completely right on the first try, she would always get them on the second attempt.  “Honestly, Amelia, you didn’t even need to be tested. You smashed it.” Sirius complimented.

“But I did! I was lacking in the theory understanding so badly, and I needed to get my stance and wand movements up to scratch.” She insisted.

“Even if you hadn’t got the theory part, you still would have been fine with the practical stuff.” Sirius stood up. “What’s on the agenda now?”

She had a think. “Suppose if I’m going to duel you tonight, I’ll need to revise a strategy.” She answered back, grinning wryly.

Sirius barked laughter. “You can try, kiddo, but you won’t win.”

“We’ll see about that,” she bantered, going upstairs.

Fifteen minutes after dinner, Harry had just finished washing up when Sirius came back into the kitchen. “I think we could all use the duelling room tonight,” 

That caught Harry’s attention. “Oh, really? I’ve been dying to use it, and it’ll be a good break from the revision.”

“How’s the studying coming on, - is Arithmancy sticking yet?” Sirius asked.

“A little bit. Ancient Runes is coming on leaps and bounds every day. I think Arithmancy is going to take the most work, though.” He answered, honestly. 

“Keep at it though, Harry, I know that it’ll take time, but it will come eventually. Let's hope it’s before the tests.” Sirius encouraged him. He nodded sincerely, making a mental note to stick at it more.

All four of the residents of Black Manor walked to the top floor, where the duelling rooms were located. When they entered, Sirius pulled the dummies towards them. “You can either practise on these ones first, or we can just get straight into duelling.” Sirius told them. Harry was perfectly comfortable to just get straight into the duel. 

“Dad, can I go first?” Dorea stepped forward.

“Sure, my girl.” Sirius walked about twenty paces before turning back round. “Okay, so feel free to throw virtually anything at me - I can take it. No Unforgivables or lethal spells, though. We’ll stop duelling if either of us get hit.” He instructed. Dorea nodded, and readied herself. Harry was looking forward to watching this, and Amelia looked intrigued too. 

It was silent for a few moments, before Dorea went in first. “ _ Flipendo!” .  _ Her spell went soaring forward towards Sirius, who blocked it when it was mere inches from his face. Sirius went on the offensive, and fired a Full Body-Bind Curse at his daughter, not with vicious intent. Dorea sidestepped it at the last moment, and it instead hit off the wall. She retaliated with a Disarming Charm. She had almost won the duel then, but Sirius cast a Protego at the last moment.  Sirius had managed to win, but he threw in a sneaky tactic - he sent out two  _ Relashio _ ’s, instead of one, and Dorea only managed to dodge the first one, as the second one was sent out immediately after the first.

“That was fun!” Dorea commented after she got her wand back. 

“You were very good,” Sirius offered her some feedback, “I know I won a bit unfairly, as you weren’t expecting two spells to be sent out at once, but it’s something to keep in mind. Send out two spells at the same time if your life is in danger and you need to Apparate away quickly, for example, so that it stalls your opponent.” He sounded very much like a teacher.

“I’ll go next,” Amelia offered. Harry nodded.

Everyone was quite surprised at how relentless Amelia was in her mock duel with Sirius. She was very alert and ready to dodge anything, and very quick at casting as well. She had sent out two Disarming spells, however Sirius blocked them both with a grin. His sister looked like she was running out of ideas, as Sirius was just dodging and blocking everything. However, she managed to conjure up two small pebbles. Harry wondered where on earth this was going, but was very impressed when she managed to enlarge them to small rocks and hurled them with a Banishing charm in Sirius’s direction. As he was busy avoiding them, she sent out an  _ Expelliarmus,  _ and the duel was won when Sirius’s wand went flying through the air and into her free hand, whilst he was still ducking the rocks and off-guard.

“Wow,” Sirius let out a whistle. “Where on earth did you learn how to do that?” He sounded amazed.

“The thought just impulsively came to me - I had thought of the Tongue-Tying Curse, but you would surely block it. So I conjured up some rocks instead,” Amelia looked pleased with herself as she gave their godfather his wand back. “I hope the rocks didn’t actually hit you, though.”

“They didn’t,” Sirius let out a breath. “You’re very good, ‘melia, your parents were relentless duellers too.”

She had smiled at that as she walked back over to Harry and Dorea. Dorea was immediately praising her. Harry managed to say a quick “Well done,” before Sirius ushered him forwards.

He hadn’t really thought of a game plan, come to think of it. He’d been watching and taking mental notes of Dorea and Amelia’s duels, but yet he had no clue how he was going to differentiate his duel from theirs. He wanted to do something unexpected, that would hopefully distract Sirius and help him win. Even though he knew Sirius was just going easy on them, as he was a qualified Auror and far more experienced than they were, Harry wanted to prove himself.  _ I want to lead a Defence club, after all,  _ he thought,  _ I’d look like an idiot if I didn't know how to handle myself in a duel. _

He took up a ready stance, and assumed he was to send out the first spell. Harry sent out a Disarming spell, which Sirius promptly blocked, and retaliated with a tripping jinx. Harry dodged it by side-stepping, and threw back two Full Body-Bind curses. Sirius threw up a protective shield, and Harry had to dodge his own spells as they rebounded off the invisible shield and came flying back at him. He sent out an Immobulus Charm, which almost did the trick, but Sirius missed it by centimetres.  After five minutes, Harry was getting quite frantic. Sirius was blocking and dodging  _ everything  _ that he sent out, and he still had no clue what his element of surprise was going to be. At last, something came to him - he would send out not one, not two, but _ three _ Knockback Jinx’s, and see if Sirius could hold off all three of them. “ _ Flipendo!”  _ he called out, and to throw Sirius off guard, quietly muttered the other two  _ Flipendo _ incantations, so that his godfather would think he only sent out one.

But Sirius was far too clever. He threw up yet another protective shield - which meant that all three of the spells were now coming back at Harry at an alarming speed. He didn’t even have time to move before he was thrown back several feet and onto the ground. It felt like he’d been yanked back by a rope.

He didn’t even feel that sore, yet Sirius came jogging over. “Oh my gosh, are you alright, Harry?” His godfather asked frantically.

“I’m fine,” Harry declared, and took Sirius’s hand and pulled himself up. “I should have reacted quicker.”

Sirius cast an  _ Enervate _ just to be sure, but no bones had been broken. Harry thought he might have a few bruises tomorrow, but he could probably brew a Bruisewort Balm - a potion which he had seen in one of the potions books, yet it wasn’t part of Hogwarts curriculum. Plus, he had made Wiggenweld Potion for himself, so he was fairly stocked up on that in case he felt any internal side effects.

“I think we’ll end it on that note,” Sirius said, his voice slightly echoing. “I’m really impressed with how you three duel - you would never think that you were behind in Defence.”

“Can we do this again another day?” Dorea asked, as all four of them walked towards the door.

“Yes, we can practise all sorts of mock duels every few days or so, in the evening. Maybe we could even have a mock battle?” Sirius agreed and suggested.

“A battle?” Harry pondered.

“Yeah, like two against two, and it can play out like a mock ambush. When the Weasley’s come to visit, we could even include them.” Sirius explained.

“That would be wicked!” Amelia agreed. Harry was also intrigued to see how Ron, Ginny, Fred and George could handle themselves in a duel, so he couldn’t wait to find out.

Sirius said that he was going to be in the living room for a while, as Dumbledore had given him some “paperwork” to complete, but weirdly he didn’t elaborate on what kind of paperwork. He wouldn’t even tell them, which was weird. Harry assumed it was more Order business. 

He decided to carry on with Arithmancy for a while in his room, and maybe if there was time, brew a Bruisewort Balm so that he had ample supply. However, it was quarter past nine before he realised he’d been revising for almost two hours. The general rule in Black Manor was that lights out would always be at ten o’clock. But he did want to brew…

He grabbed the book and flicked it open to the bookmarked page of the Bruise Balm. Its total brewing time was only half an hour, but it needed twenty-five minutes to cool before it could be bottled.  _ I’ll have to ask Sirius. _

He knocked on the living room door twice, to alert Sirius he was there, before slowly entering. Sirius was frantically trying to collect the papers on the coffee table and hide their contents from Harry. “You don’t have to do that, I wasn’t looking.” Harry insisted - what was written on those papers weren’t any of his business. He had learned not to snoop from his years at the Dursleys.

“Sorry, they’re highly confidential.” Sirius said, however Harry suspected they weren’t - not totally, anyway. “What’s up?”

“I want to brew a Bruisewort Balm, in case some bruises appear tomorrow from our duel, but it takes a while to brew and cool and it's light’s out at ten..” He explained, however he sounded a bit meek. “So I was wondering if I’d be allowed to stay up until half ten, at the latest-”

“-Harry, of course you can.” Sirius looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. Then he did laugh, “You sound like you’re trying to get off a detention or something - you can stay up a bit later, as I know you’re doing something productive. So long as you’re done by eleven at the very latest, I really do not mind.”

Harry nodded, before edging out the room. “Just give me a shout if you need any help!” Sirius called out. He replied with a simple “okay” before he made his way to the Potions Lab, as he called it.

He browsed the Apothecary with his textbook in hand and a bowl to carry the ingredients in. As per his new routine for Potions, he prepared the ingredients accordingly before he even lit his cauldron, so that it was all ready to go. He took his time, as he didn’t want to rush it, and besides, he had Sirius’s permission to stay up anyway. This potion, though it was described as easy enough for a second year student to complete, took quite a lot of precision and accuracy. If he was in Snape’s class right now brewing it, he would probably have made a few mistakes already. But he brushed that from his mind - Severus Snape was not here to growl at him, and Malfoy wasn’t either.

He felt relieved when the potion turned blue - exactly as it was described to look at the end. He sighed in relief, and took it off the heat immediately so it could cool down quicker. He set a timer for twenty-five minutes as he cleaned up.

He was finished cleaning up within five minutes, so got a few bottles and vials ready and labeled. He had made quite a big batch, so he laid out five of each ready to be filled. He spent the rest of the cooling period thinking about his subjects for fifth year. He wondered who Dumbledore had found to take up the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year - as he had to do every year. Harry hoped he found a competent one, but he knew Defence teachers didn't have the greatest track record at being good (barring Remus, who was the best they’d had so far).  _ So long as they’re not a Death Eater psychopath, I’ll be alright with it. _

He wished that Dumbledore would also find a good History of Magic teacher, for Cuthbert Binns excelled more at putting students to sleep than teaching them. Harry actually quite liked History of Magic - he had an interest in Muggle history too, so History was a good subject, he just wished the class wasn’t so boring and sleep-inducing. Binns kept his back to the class the entire time, and didn’t really engage or ask questions, so everyone treated it as a class where they could catch up on sleep, especially if it was the first period and they hadn’t got a great sleep the night before. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when the timer sounded that twenty-five minutes was up. He quickly turned the beeping sound off, and got a ladle ready. Harry even felt himself yawn - it had been a tiring but interesting day. 

Harry had managed to find a bag in one of the cupboards in the room that was a potions caddy bag, so he claimed it for himself and carefully placed his supply of Bruise Balm’s into one section of the bag, their labels facing the front. He was glad he found it - for he didn’t fancy his chances walking back up to his room with ten bottles and vials of potions balancing precariously in his arms. He would use it to store all the potions he brewed in so he could access them more efficiently. He felt organised.

He walked back up to his room with the caddy bag and carefully set it down on top of the trunk at the end of his bed. Readying himself for bed, he discovered in the mirror that a bruise was formed on his left elbow - it must’ve been when he made contact with the floor when he was thrown back. He reckoned it would only need a vial, rather than a bottle, so took one out and prepared to pour it onto the affected area. He watched with amazement in the mirror, as the bruise disappeared the second the potion came into contact with it. Harry wiped off any residue and got into bed, feeling very accomplished.

Dorea, though she was meant to be in bed (as it was almost eleven), found herself still awake and writing - not doing homework, nor revision, but writing a letter to Fred, her boyfriend.

She had no clue how she was going to give it to him - would Hedwig be able to fly outwith the wards and enchantments perimeters? She didn’t want to risk it, or potentially hurt the owl. There was the Floo… But what if one of the adults caught her and wondered what she was doing? She got a bit frustrated.  Even though the Weasley’s would come over to Black Manor for a visit at some point, that could be anytime from this week to the end of August. She needed to communicate with Fred, else the distance might not work out for them. 

The only light in the room was her wand - as she cast  _ Lumos Maxima  _ in order to write the letter in bed. However, when she heard footsteps somewhere out in the corridor, she hurried to quietly darken the room. She even pretended to be asleep in case it was her dad making sure their lights were out and that they were asleep. She waited until the footsteps could no longer be heard before lighting her wand again.

Her letter to Fred Weasley was quite brief, but it summarised everything they’d been getting up to so far. She told him about the house, its contents, and what she’d learned in the short space of time. She even wrote about Harry taking up Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and how hard he was studying in order to take them for fifth year. She could picture Fred guffawing in disbelief when he read that part, which made her smile. 

She finished her short but sweet letter with a statement that she loved him, and she couldn’t wait to see him again. She did truly miss him, and although she wasn’t completely sure if it was love yet, she would love to find out. None of the adults knew about their relationship, and they intended on keeping it that way. It would be a disaster if Sirius found out about them, for he was very protective of Dorea.

Once the letter was done, she capped her inkwell and waited for the ink to dry before hiding it away in her bedside cabinet drawer. She would confer with both Harry and Amelia tomorrow, to find out the safest way of sending the letter to Grimmauld Place.

Dorea fell asleep that night, feeling accomplished from the events of today, and wondered what tomorrow would bring.

  
  
  
  
  



	7. Exam Worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The gang shop at Diagon Alley, and the return to school nears.

Sirius had woken up at seven fifty the next morning, wondering what on earth had woken him up so early. He’d been dreaming again, - normally they were horrendous ones involving his parents, but this one he’d just had was about Regulus.

The dream was about the day he received the news that Reggie had become a Death Eater. By that time, Sirius was already living with James and his parents, so he’d been alerted of it by a letter from his younger brother himself.

He remembered exactly how he felt - angry, betrayed, downright furious, but most of all he felt scared. He always tried to deny that he felt the latter.

He knew his brother - well, he thought he did, - but Reggie never struck him as the type to actually join the Death Eater’s mantra. Sure, he would always nod at anything their parents said regarding the eradication of muggles in their society, but Reggie would always tell him afterwards (in secret) that he didn’t totally agree with them, he just wanted to appease them. _Such a bootlicker, he was,_ Sirius thought, remembering how Regulus always did everything to please mother and father, _why couldn’t he just speak his damn mind, like I did?_

All these years had passed, yet he still missed his brother. Brotherly love rarely left you, and even though Regulus stood for everything Sirius hated, he couldn’t help but love and miss him. He wondered how alone Reggie must have felt when he died… To this day, he had no idea what Regulus’s cause of death was, and he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to find out. He couldn’t help but also see a little bit of his brother’s looks in Dorea - for she resembled Reggie (and consequently, Sirius) when she laughed and grinned.

Sirius decided to get up, knowing that the kids were probably still all sleeping, and tiptoed down the corridor and into his study - where, locked away securely, was the papers Dumbledore had given him after their discussion. The old man had given him a few job advertisements - “ _you have to step out into the wizarding public at some point, Sirius,”_ the Headmaster had said to him, _“you are a free man, and an innocent man, though the Ministry were reluctant. You have to show your face.”_ Dumbledore still spoke calmly to him, even though a few nights before, when the kids were occupied up in their rooms, he Floo’d over to Grimmauld Place for an Order meeting, and almost screamed at the old codger that all this time, Harry and Amelia were knowingly staying in an abusive household and yet he did nothing. He was so angry at Albus that Remus _and_ Arthur had to cast a Silencing charm around the room so that the Weasley kids didn’t wake up.

One job was sticking out at him in particular - he was surprised at it, but Dumbledore seemed to think he was up to it. The pay was good (though he didn’t really need money), the hours were decent (which he preferred) and the overall job was something that sounded interesting, it hadn’t really appealed to him before. It involved-

He was interrupted when Ditsy, one of their house elves, suddenly Apparated into the study, almost giving him a heart attack. “Master, Mistress McGonagall will be Floo’ing over at 9 o’ clock this morning.” The elf proclaimed. He could just see it’s small ears bopping as it made its way over to his side.

Sirius gathered his thoughts. “What is she coming over for?”

“To talk about Master Harry Potter’s club, of course.” Ditsy replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Sirius had almost forgotten that Minerva had to get Albus to confirm and approve of Harry’s Defence club. It had been just under three days since she’d been over, when Harry had told her about it. Sirius knew that it had definitely been approved, but knowing Albus, he probably made up his own rules regarding its running. He nodded at the house-elf, and Ditsy Dissaparated.

The time was ten past eight, and Sirius figured that the kids would have to wake up now, so that they weren’t eating breakfast when Minerva came over. He stood up and went to wake them.

However, Harry was already up and about. He met him on the staircase. “This is the earliest you’ve risen,” Sirius said suspiciously.

“I want to go for a quick fly-around outside, to prepare me for today, and then eat breakfast.” Harry declared, sounding confident.

“Prepare you for what?” Sirius asked.

“Well, doing exercise when you first get up gets your brain working so it's ready for activities,” at Sirius’s blank stare, Harry continued, “I read it in a book. I want to try it out.”

“Well, McGonagall is coming over at nine - I reckon it’s about your club, so you will have to look presentable.” Sirius allowed.

“Oh, okay,” Harry said, “It’ll only be a quick fly-around, then.”

He had knocked on Amelia’s door, but she was already awake and was apparently just getting dressed, so that was fine. He had to knock a few times on Dorea’s door before he heard her grunting. “McGonagall’s coming over at nine, you have to get up.” He said to his daughter on the other side of the door. He heard her sleepily call out an “okay” before he heard her get up. Satisfied, he walked downstairs smirking. _She’s just like me - not a morning person on the best of days._

Harry felt his heart twinge nervously a bit, as Professor McGonagall came through the fireplace in the living room at nine, almost on the dot. She stepped out and brushed herself down.

“Mr Potter, good morning,” she inclined her head with a thin smile, “I can inform you that your club has been approved by Professor Dumbledore.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and felt Dorea and Amelia pat his shoulders on both sides. Sirius ruffled his hair in congratulations. “Professor Dumbledore has asked me to give this to you,” she paused, as she handed him a piece of parchment. “Both me and the Headmaster have added enchantments to this sign-up sheet, which will prevent any students that are secretly already marked Death Eaters from joining your club. It also worms out those who are personally sympathetic to the Death Eater cause.”

“That’s great! Thanks, Professor.” Harry said sincerely.

McGonagall smiled. “I look forward to hearing of this club’s developments,” she made her way out, but turned to them as she grabbed some Floo powder. “Oh, also, are you content with doing your Ancient Runes and Arithmancy tests on the same day, Mr Potter?”

Harry froze a bit, even though the days of the tests were constantly looming over his head. “I suppose to get them out of the way quicker, yeah, I’d be fine doing them on the same day.”

“Good. You will have an hour interval between the two of them, so don’t worry about having to immediately dive into the other test as soon as you finish the first one. To save time, Professors Vector and Babbling have decided to include both the third and fourth year contents of both their subjects into one paper, so instead of you having to do four tests in one day, you’ll only be sitting two.” McGonagall waved goodbye. “I’ll distribute both of the tests to you on the morning of the twenty-fifth. Good day to you all.”

When she left, Harry let out a low sigh. Dorea stood up. “How far along have you got with both subjects?”

“I’ve actually almost done the third year content for Runes, it's just Arithmancy that’s taking a bit longer,” he explained, “I’m almost halfway through the third year Arithmancy stuff, but it feels like it's going in one ear and straight out the other.”

Amelia considered. “I’m the same most of the time, so don’t worry, it’s meant to be quite hard.” 

His sister said in sympathy.

For the next few days, Harry spent most of his time revising Arithmancy, since he was practically on the fourth year Runes stuff and he was understanding that subject better anyway, so focused more on getting third year Arithmancy done and dusted. He found that referring to the Intro books alongside the textbook did confuse him at times, so decided to only use it when he really wasn’t understanding something. As a result, he found himself gradually getting better at it. Sirius helped when he could, even though he only had a basic understanding of the subject. He wished that Remus had more free time to come over and tutor him, but he did manage to drop off a paper folder filled with written exercises and tests for Harry to do one morning (that he’d made himself, which was impressive). Amelia and Dorea’s notes were also very handy in situations where he got totally stumped.

Every few nights, they also did more work in the Potions Lab and Duelling room. They gradually improved at their mock duels, and they even started to beat Sirius more often. Harry even suggested that they start brewing fifth year potions, which were a bit more hard going, but it felt good to get a head start on them.

Harry came downstairs on the twenty-fifth of August and ate his breakfast solemnly at the table, in silence. It felt like chewing carpet - for he was to sit his entry tests for Runes and Arithmancy today. McGonagall would probably be over at any moment…

She came into the kitchen, papers in hand. “Today’s the day, Potter,” his Transfiguration teacher said, in what was probably meant to be a cheery voice, but all Harry could hear was impending doom. “You have three hours for both papers - an hour and a half each for both years, however if you do go over time it doesn’t matter - so long as it’s no more than half an hour over.” She placed the tests face-down on the table. 

“There’s no rush, Harry, you can start them whenever.” Sirius came in. 

“Yes, you can have one last skim over your notes,” McGonagall said, but then turned to Sirius, “but you better make sure that he doesn’t cheat!” Minerva knew that there were enchantments on the papers - they would turn purple if Harry did in fact cheat, but she didn’t tell them that. She knew that her Gryffindor student wouldn’t dare cheat anyway, but it had to be said.

When she left, Harry could no longer eat. He tidied his plate away and cleaned the table of crumbs. Amelia and Dorea came in then. “Good luck for today, Harry, don’t stress too hard.” His twin sister said sincerely, for which he was grateful for.

“Yeah, but remember it won’t be the end of the world if you fail it.” Dorea pointed out.

“Wow, ever the supportive godsister, Dorea,” Harry said sarcastically, but grinned nonetheless.

“Are you doing them in here, Harry? There is a study down the hall you could use,” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, I think I will go in there, actually.” Harry replied. If he did the tests in the kitchen, then it would mean that Sirius, Amelia or Dorea might walk in and disturb him. He didn’t want them walking in at a crucial part of the exams, so gathered his things and followed Sirius to the study he was on about.

Sirius stopped at the door. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“Would I be allowed twenty minutes to go over my notes? I’m thinking of sitting Arithmancy first to get it out the way.” He asked.

“Yes, of course, so long as you put your notes away for the actual test.” Sirius allowed. “Sit them outside the door when you’ve done, so that you can’t be tempted by them.”

Harry nodded, and went to go into the study. Sirius gave him a pat on both shoulders and said one final good luck. The study was a bright but cavernous room, and by the window was a massive mahogany table. It must’ve been a metre in length and half that in width, with a comfy chair accompanying it. He sat down at it, and got ready to review. _Here we go..._

Just under three hours later, Harry exited the study, one completed paper in hand, and went into the kitchen. Sirius was in there. He got up instantly. “How did it go?”

“I think third year Arithmancy went alright, but the fourth year stuff was tricky. I’ll be amazed if I passed it. I’m not entirely sure if I’m cut out for Arithmancy, if I’m honest.” Harry said, feeling a bit deflated. Technically, he was relying on the third year content to really bring his marks up, since the fourth year stuff went terribly, he thought.

“Oh don’t worry about it now, I bet you smashed it.” His godfather sounded way more optimistic than he did. “When are you sitting the Runes exams?” 

“Can I have an hour lunch break before I do one last review of the content, and then sit the paper?” Harry asked.

“Sure!” Sirius replied.

Amelia and Dorea walked in then. “Arithmancy is so hard, isn’t it?” Dorea felt his pain.

“Runes is a lot easier, Harry, if I remember rightly the third year exam was just basically translating a massive scr-”

“-Oi! Don’t tell him!” Sirius cut in sharply.

“I wasn’t telling him what it was about, though, did I?” She replied cheekily.

“The Weasley’s are coming tomorrow, by the way, as is Hermione.” Dorea announced. Harry raised his eyebrows, and nodded in excitement. He could see the happiness in Dorea’s eyes (for Fred would be coming over), and he sent her a knowing look when Sirius wasn’t looking, which she smiled ruefully at.

“And we’re going to Diagon Alley with them on the twenty-seventh, when the book lists arrive.” Amelia added. Harry couldn’t wait - it almost took his mind off the test.

For the whole duration of the hour break, Sirius kept insisting he should at least have two sandwiches, a snack and a drink - he called it “brain food”. “I’m pretty sure this morning’s toast is still in my system, Sirius.” Harry remarked.

“Even so, it could be wearing off!” Sirius said, like a worried mother hen, as if Harry’s brain was going to shut down indefinitely if he didn’t eat. For the sake of his godfather's blood pressure, Harry made sure Sirius saw him eat a chocolate bar and have a glass of orange juice with his cheese sandwich, so he couldn’t complain anymore. He even munched on an apple to appease him more. 

Harry spent less time reviewing Ancient Runes, as he found it generally easier to do than Arithmancy, so therefore felt a lot better about the test he was about to sit. In Runes exams, you were allowed to have a copy of the Rune Dictionary in front of you anyway, as there was no possible way to memorise every single rune and know its translation, so that eased Harry even more. He almost felt confident about this subject. 

When he flipped the exam paper open, it turned out the third year content did include a script of Runic writing, as Amelia said, which was followed with the simple instruction: “ _Using your Rune Dictionary as a guide, translate the script of writing above to English.”_ That whole section alone was worth 30 marks. It was followed with a multiple choice section with only eight questions, and that's all there was for third year. Fourth year had a multiple choice section, two translations to do, and some questions where you had to outline, describe and explain.

Two and a half hours later, Hary left the study for the second time that day, this time feeling a lot better. He even skipped a bit in his stride towards the kitchen, where the three other inhabitants of Black Manor were waiting to hear his verdict. “I think I did fine,” he said, although his voice sounded a bit unsure. “The third year stuff went quite well, although I think I mucked up a few translations… Fourth year was alright as well, it wasn’t that bad.” He handed his combined Ancient Runes paper to Sirius.

“Well done for getting through it, though!” Sirius congratulated him with a hug. Amelia and Dorea did the same. At five o'clock, they sat and had dinner, and Harry was telling them about the fourth year Arithmancy exam in detail when the Floo flared in the living room. 

It was Professor McGonagall. “All done?” She asked briskly.

Harry nodded, and Sirius turned to face her as he handed her the two papers. “He went ten minutes over the time limit on the Arithmancy paper, but was well within time on the Ancient Runes one.” He explained. McGonagall smirked a bit when she saw that the papers hadn’t in fact turned purple, meaning that Harry hadn’t cheated. “I will give these to Professors Vector and Babbling, who will mark them tonight, so that you will know your result by tomorrow morning. They will mark you for both years and then give you an overall grade for each year.” She turned on her heel and was off again as briefly as she came.

Harry didn’t realise that they’d be marked so quickly - he would rather not know tomorrow whether it had all been a waste of time studying both subjects all along. If he had failed (and he thought he had in fact messed Arithmancy up, quite spectacularly), he would be in no mood to go to Diagon Alley. Not even Ron, or Fred and George could cheer him up if that happened. 

Now that he no longer had to study anything, Harry used his remaining time before school started to do some more reading, flying, and forward study. He and Amelia spent the afternoon in the Potion’s Lab, and Harry spent time brewing the potions that were a part of the fifth year curriculum, Amelia doing the same. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Hermione’s face when they were back in class, brewing. She would wonder what on earth had happened to them.

Harry’s new-found Potions skills were really put to the test when he started brewing the Draught of Peace - for one mistake could mean that someone would find themselves sleeping forever if they took it. Even though he wasn’t actually going to give it to anyone, he wanted to know that he could brew it perfectly. He really took his time with it, but almost at a cost - as he realised he missed a step.

“Amelia,” he spoke up suddenly. His twin turned and came over to his bench (she was brewing a Hair-Raising Potion, another fifth year potion). “I’ve just realised I’ve missed a step, - I forgot to add the syrup of hellebore, just as I added the porcupine quills.” He explained in a rush, quite stressed and annoyed at himself.

“Oh gosh, Harry, I don’t know if it’s fixable…” Amelia said next to him. “Is there a way to undo it? It would be a shame to have to start all over again…”

There was only one way to find out. “Dippey!” Harry spoke. 

Within a second, Dippey, one of their house elves, Apparated into the room at his command. “Master Harry, sir, is there a problem?” The rather sweet elf spoke. 

“Summon Sirius here, please, I might have done something stupid.” Harry commanded gently.

Dippey Dissaparated, and appeared almost two seconds later with Sirius. “What’s happened?”

“Sirius, do you know if there’s a way to undo a mistake you’ve made to your potion?” Harry explained sheepishly.

“Well, I know a spell which reverses a step, but I don’t know if it saves the ingredients you added as well…” His godfather had a think.

“Please do it, I don’t care, I’ll get more porcupine quills.” Harry said.

Sirius waved his wand, and within an instant, the porcupine quills came out of the cauldron and were now sitting tidily where they were before - and they looked virtually unused. Almost as if they’d been sitting there the whole time. “Wow, thanks!” Harry was grateful, as he suspected that if his godfather hadn't done that, the Potions Lab would be on fire. “What spell was that? I think it will be handy to know.”

“The incantation is _Laxo,_ it’s very effective. You can use it in class when Snape isn’t looking, if the Slytherin’s ever try to sabotage your potions.” Sirius explained. “Although I must stress to you - do not tell Snape, or let him find out, that you’ve been brewing over the holidays. I do not want him sticking his nose in matters that do not concern him.”

Harry was a bit confused at that. “Why?”

“I do not know if he knows of this house, of Black Manor. But if he does know, then he knows that this house has a Potions Lab, and he connects the dots… He will find out we’re staying here, which means the Death Eater’s will find out and they’ll know where we are.” Sirius revealed. “I do not know what we’ll do if they discover this location.”

Harry nodded at that, swearing to himself to not let Snape find out. Amelia did the same.

The next morning at breakfast, you would have thought Harry was sitting more exams - for he was eating nervously for the second day in a row. McGonagall would be giving him his results this morning. He had dreamed last night that he’d gotten T’s in the tests, and McGonagall had laughed so hard that her teeth had fallen out and chased him all around the house. The dream had then morphed into a different scene - Professor Flitwick announcing to the Charm’s class that they were studying “What NOT to do in your O.W.L exams” that year, and held Harry’s Arithmancy test paper up as an example, with a big red T occupying the top-left corner, which caused the whole class to be in tears, laughing at him. The final scene he saw before waking up with a start at six a.m was him zooming around the Quidditch pitch, chasing the Snitch. When his dream-self failed to catch it, he heard Lee Jordan commentate on the microphone, “Oh dear, Potter’s failed to catch the Snitch and win it for Gryffindor, which makes that the second thing he’s failed at this year besides Arithmancy.”

When he heard the Floo signal next door, Dorea put an arm around him, even though his heart was now going at a hundred miles an hour. To make it worse, McGonagall walked in with Professors Vector and Babbling. He tried to read their expressions - although they were smiling at him, they could be masking their disappointment.

“Mr Potter, good morning,” McGonagall said as the three ladies sat down across the table from them. Sirius came in and slid into the seat next to him. 

“Good morning,” Harry echoed, trying to look confident.

“We have marked your test papers,” Vector said, as she reached into her bag to take his tests out. Babbling was already holding the Ancient Runes one in her hands, yet he couldn’t see anything that would give him a clue as to how he did.

“Is it good news or bad news?” He tried to sound optimistic.

“You’ve done well, considering what little time scale you had to study.” Babbling replied.

 _Oh god, I’ve definitely got P’s, haven’t I?_ Harry was dreading this. 

Vector handed him the Arithmancy paper, and Harry hesitated to take it, but when he did, he was pleasantly surprised when his eyes were drawn to the red handwriting in the top-right corner.

_Third Year - A_

_Fourth Year - P_

_“_ Well, I did better than I ever could have dreamed.” He exhaled, relieved, but also annoyed at the P. It would be a miracle if he was allowed to do fifth year Arithmancy.

“Do not let that P get you down, Potter,” Vector said kindly, “you were six marks off an A for fourth year, and it was a difficult paper for someone so new to the subject.”

Babbling handed him the Ancient Runes test paper. His spirits were lifted, for his results read:

_Third Year - E_

_Fourth Year - A_

_I can do Ancient Runes, at least,_ Harry thought. “Are you sure this is my paper?!” He said, astounded that he’d done _that_ well. Everyone chuckled at that. He spoke again. “I’m assuming my marks are too low to let me into Arithmancy, Professor Vector.” He said as he flicked through the paper, to see where he went wrong.

“Actually, Mr Potter, I can offer you a solution.” Vector voiced, and he straightened up, keen to hear it. “If your timetable allows it, you could meet with me for private Arithmancy lessons twice a week, or three times if need be. They would have to be in the evenings, as my N.E.W.T and Advanced level students, as well as the third to fifth years, leave me little free periods during the days. We can figure out what days that fit your schedule and don’t clash with Quidditch and your Defence club.”

“Oh, you found out about the club,” Harry said, his face flushing a bit.

“Dumbledore has told all the staff, Potter.” McGonagall said.

He would have loved to know what Snape’s reaction would have been to the idea of Harry wanting his precious Slytherin’s integrated into the club. It might have even made him laugh for once in his life. He turned to face Vector. “I would still like to learn Arithmancy, Professor, so I would like to take up your offer of private lessons. How would that work in terms of the class and the O.W.L exam?” He enquired.

“You would only be with the O.W.L class when it came to sitting exams, and on the rare occasion we did a group project or something.” Vector answered. Arithmancy required quite a lot of individual thinking and work. “You would be given the exact same lesson as the class would have, and the exact same work too. Which means you can always ask certain people for help, regarding homeworks and exercises.” She gestured towards Amelia and Dorea. “We can discuss more when Hogwarts resumes, when you have your timetable.”

Harry nodded at that. He handed the test paper’s back to the teachers, who had to take them back to have on record. The three teachers left then, saying goodbye, after McGonagall gave the three of them their book lists for fifth year. Harry’s had been updated to include Runes and Arithmancy textbooks. He was delighted that there was no longer a requirement to spend money needlessly on Divination textbooks.

When they left, Sirius bolted out his chair and spun him around in a hug. “You passed Ancient Runes!” He shouted in delight. Amelia and Dorea got up and soon it became a group hug. 

“Hey, didn’t he technically pass Arithmancy too? He’s done enough to still do fifth year.” Dorea noted.

“It certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve passed, I have to have _private_ lessons.” Harry said.

“You’ll find yourself understanding it better in no time when you have a teacher for it,” Amelia assured him, “she’s really good at explaining.”

The day was made even better when Remus came over to visit, and was delighted at Harry’s marks. Even Tonks had come over, as she wanted to finally see the house and congratulate Harry. The two of them offered to stay for dinner that night, and Tonks even went out to get them a muggle Indian takeaway as a treat. Soon, they were all tucking in to all sorts of korma’s, masala’s, and bhunas. 

The next morning, most of the Weasley’s came through the Floo and were now in the living room of Black Manor. Ron was the first through, and almost bolted at him.

“Aw, mate, Grimmauld Place is so boring without you lot,” his best friend said as they engulfed one another in a hug. 

Hermione came through with Ginny, and they hugged Amelia and Dorea before coming to Harry. “Oh, Harry, how are you?! Remus said last night that we had a lot to catch up on, regarding you.” Hermione gushed.

“Let him breathe, Hermione.” Ron said, chuckling.

“I’ll tell you all about it when Fred and George come through.” Harry said, as Mr and Mrs Weasley came through next, and were greeted by Sirius.

The last to come through were Fred and George, and Fred almost ran at Dorea until he remembered Sirius was there, so instead he just walked, and they greeted each other platonically, which was quite hard for them to do considering they were in a couple.

Harry, Amelia and Dorea spent half an hour giving the Weasley’s (and Hermione) a tour of the Manor. They were rendered speechless most of the time, and when they actually seen how big it was from the outside, their faces were priceless. Even the Potions Lab and the Duelling Rooms had them whistling and saying “wow”. Hermione was most impressed at the library.

“So, mate, Lupin said you’ve made a few decisions.” George remarked.

“So come on, out with the news!” Fred carried on.

Harry took a deep breath. “Okay, so, just over three weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to take up both Ancient Runes _and_ Arithmancy, for fifth year.”

“Harry, isn’t that, like, impossible?” Ron laughed, as if he was joking.

“I thought it would be too - I spent countless hours revising two years worth of content, and just yesterday I was given the third and fourth year exams to see if I could be allowed on to the O.W.L course.”

“And?! Have you had your results back?” Hermione urged.

“For Ancient Runes, I got an E for third year and an A for fourth,” he paused, as Hermione made an excited noise, “and for Arithmancy, I got an A for third year but a P for fourth. But that was apparently okay though, as Vector has offered to give me private lessons in the evenings when we go back to Hogwarts, so I can still take Arithmancy, I just won’t be in the class.”

“Hang on,” Ron said, “Ancient Runes is always on at the same time as Divination…”

“Well, I’ve had to drop Divination, haven’t I?” Harry answered for him.

Ron didn’t even look bothered. “Good on you, mate, that class is useless anyway. It’s not like I’d be alone in the class - I’ll still have Dean, Seamus and Neville.”

Relieved with his friend's acceptance, Harry continued. “When we go back to Hogwarts, there’s something else that I’ll be doing…”

And so for the next ten minutes or so, Harry explained the Defence club, and his strategy for uniting Hogwarts students. His friends listened tentatively, and even though their eyebrows raised alarmingly when he said he was going to allow Slytherin’s to join, they were amazed, surprised, but excited.

“Oh Harry, I just know you’ll be a great leader!” Hermione said, “We can all learn a lot from you. I want to sign my name right now!”

Harry summoned the enchanted parchment, and he soon realised that the club didn’t yet have a name, which would be no use. Quickly wracking his brain, the best he could come up with was “ _Defence Association”_ , and so wrote that as a title at the top of the page before signing his own name and passing the parchment around. When he got it back, it was decorated with eight names. _Hopefully we get double or triple that amount when school goes back,_ Harry thought.

“Now that’s out the bag, you won’t believe who’s been made Gryffindor Prefects,” Ginny said, trying not to snigger. Fred and George made retching noises.

“Who?” Amelia asked.

“Me, and-” Hermione started,

“ _Little Ronnikins!”_ Fred said in a girly voice. Ron flushed a furiously beet red, and shoved his brother slightly. 

To say Harry was a bit surprised was an understatement. The thought of Prefects hadn’t even crossed his mind that summer, to be perfectly honest. He kind of knew Hermione was a given for the girls Prefect, but Ron? Harry would have thought Dean, who was an underrated wizard - he was very knowledgeable for a muggleborn, just like Hermione. 

“Well, some congratulations are in order!” Dorea exclaimed, as she gave Hermione another hug and a well done, and did the same for Ron. Ginny said they were throwing a party for them at Grimmauld Place that night, and that they’d been invited.

“Oh mate, you should have been there when mum found out.” Fred nudged him. “She was horrendous.”

“In what way?” Harry asked, smirking, as Amelia and Dorea were congratulating.

“Her gushing.” George supplied. “The _shriek_ she let out, and the ‘ _oh, Ronnie!’_ , it was revolting.” 

At eleven a.m, they were getting ready to Floo to Diagon Alley. They would be accompanied by Mr & Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, and Sirius - who was stepping out into the wizarding public for the first time in years, since his name got cleared.

He just so happened to be standing next to his godfather as they were queuing up in the living room to use the Floo. Sirius was holding both of his hands and rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad, Sirius, nobody will think you’re a murderer.” Harry offered his support.

Sirius scoffed, but didn’t smile. “There’s going to be so many people in Diagon Alley today, though, buying their kids books and supplies…”

Harry had a thought. “You could change your appearance.”

“Nah, I suppose Dumbledore is right - I’ve got to get out in the public at some point - and today is that day.” Sirius said, trying to straighten up. When it was their turn to go, Sirius ushered him forward first.

Taking a handful of Floo powder, Harry said loud and clearly (unlike that time just before second year when he appeared in Borgin and Burkes instead), “Diagon Alley!”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: A new year at Hogwarts starts, with exciting new prospects.

Harry was soon transported to the Leaky Cauldron, where the others had ended up. They waited with bated breath for Sirius to come through. The Leaky Cauldron wasn’t actually that busy, there were only a few people at the bar who were either engrossed in their newspapers or in their cups. As they waited, Tom the landlord waved at him “You alright, ‘Arry?” The bent-crooked man called out in friendly welcome.

“Yeah, good thanks, Tom.” He replied cheerily.

Remus meandered over to him. “You think Sirius will chicken out?” He said half-heartedly.

Harry laughed, “Nah, he’ll come through. The fact that the bar’s quite quiet will surely give him some confidence.”

Sirius did come through, and Tom kind of ruined the landmark moment when he almost dropped a tankard in surprise, “Bloody hell, if it isn’t the man himself!” which caused the two men that were at the bar to turn in their seats. They quietly conversed amongst themselves, but they didn’t seem that bothered.

“Tom, how are you? It’s been years.” Sirius said with a grin, going to shake Tom’s hand as if they were old pals.

“By golly gosh, I cheered so loud when the Ministry declared you innocent, Sirius! I knew all along ye wouldn’t ever betray yer friends!” Tom was almost in tears with delight. The landlord was so happy to see him that he declared that from now on, Sirius would get charged nothing at all if he ever stopped by at the Leaky Cauldron.

When they eventually managed to step out onto the High Street, it was fairly busy with either parents or students shopping for Hogwarts supplies. The adults stayed back a bit from them, but still stayed fairly close. Ron spoke from behind him, “Where do you want to go first, mate?”

Harry pulled his booklist out. “Shall we get the books out of the way?”

They all went to Flourish and Blotts together, with Mr Weasley, Tonks and Remus staying outside. Harry got all of his within five or ten minutes, but decided to also stock up on some other books. He found a book all about Defence, and another on Duelling, so added that to his basket. He even found a book on Quidditch, which gave hints, tips, maneuvers and tactics for all four of the positions (which he planned to give to Ron). Satisfied he had everything, Sirius gave him adequate money to pay. He noticed people gradually started to notice Sirius’s presence, and he even overheard some mothers gushing over how attractive his godfather was. Harry wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or vomit. What was a few people became quite a number, for they started surrounding him and speaking to him. They waited almost ten minutes for Sirius to finally become free of the circle he was entrapped in before they left the shop.

Harry, Ron, Amelia, Dorea, Fred and George went to the Quidditch shop next, as Hermione and Ginny went to the clothes shop with Tonks. Harry only planned on browsing, since Ron was thinking of getting a new Cleansweep as his present for becoming Prefect. “Gosh, this is nothing on your Firebolt, but have you seen the speed and braking on this?!” Ron gushed over the one in the window display.

They didn’t even notice Sirius behind them. “I could always get a Nimbus for you, Ron, or a-”

“Sirius Black, you will not!” They hadn’t noticed Mrs Weasley either. 

“Oh Molly, come off it,” Sirius reasoned, “I have plenty of money that needs spending.”

“Oi, Sirius, fancy getting us new Beater’s gear?” Fred and George called out from a nearby aisle.

“No, Sirius, you’ve done enough for us to last a lifetime.” Mrs Weasley insisted.

“Oh mum, can you please let Sirius get me a Nimbus?” Ron pleaded, “I can’t wait to see Malfoy’s face as I rock up on one of the expensive brooms.”

“Ronald, no, you can get the new Cleansweep. Don’t listen to Sirius.” Molly Weasley told her youngest son off.

“Well, can I at least get them each a broom servicing kit?” Sirius bargained. 

Mrs Weasley, defeated, said irately, “Oh, alright, fine!”. Since she left the shop at that moment, Sirius managed to sneak Fred and George money to get new Beater’s gear. Ron even managed to get new Keeper’s gloves (he was trying out for that position this year). Ron did get the Cleansweep as well, but Sirius promised him another time he could send him another broom. He said the same to the other Weasley’s, who looked delighted.

Their next stop was to Madam Malkin’s, as everyone had grown at least an inch over the summer, so they needed new school robes. They spent a while in there, as everyone had to be measured and tailored to, but it didn’t take them long to pay for their stuff. By that time, it was almost twelve, so they stopped for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, to the delight of Tom, who let them order everything they wanted free of charge. Mr and Mrs Weasley objected, but they soon reluctantly agreed.

After lunch, their next stop was to stock up on parchment, quills, and ink - for it was their O.W.L year, and the teachers were going to really ramp up on homework (especially for Fred and George, who were sitting N.E.W.Ts). They ran into Ernie Macmillan as they were coming out the shop, who held the door open for all of them. He looked odd when he wasn’t in school robes. “Hello, Ernie.” Harry said politely. He was hoping the Hufflepuff boy wouldn’t hold any grudges against him, since the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament wound up in Cedric dying.

“Alright, Harry, how’s it going?” Ernie replied, a bit happily. 

“Yeah I’m alright, you?” He smiled.

“I’m good,” just as Harry went to walk back over to the others, Ernie put his hand on his forearm. “Just to say, Harry, I don’t believe a single word the _ Daily Prophet _ says about you, and I believe you when you say that You-Know-Who is back.”

A bit shocked, Harry didn’t really know what to say. “B-but, don’t you blame me for Cedric?”

“No,” Ernie replied, “not one bit. I can’t speak for all my House, but Cedric’s death wasn’t your doing.”

A bit gobsmacked, Harry felt a wave of gratefulness. “Oh, well, thanks Ernie. I’ll see you at school.”

“Yeah, mate, no worries, I’ll see you in a few days!” With that, Ernie Macmillan waved goodbye to them, and went into the shop.

The others were all standing waiting for him. “What was Ernie saying?” Dorea asked.

“He believes me,” Harry said, elated.

“What?” Amelia looked confused.

“He doesn’t blame me for Cedric’s death, and he believes me when I say that Voldemort is back.” He explained.

“Well, that’s a good thing, Harry!” Hermione said, “He’s definitely another person who would join the Defence club.”

They saw a few other people from school, from a distance. Parvati and Padma Patil were shopping with their parents, as was Tracey Davis. They’d just come out of the Potion’s shop, as they all bought new cauldrons, when they unfortunately ran into Draco Malfoy. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Potter twins.” Malfoy said in a droning voice.

Harry ignored him, and Amelia tried to as well. Dorea had just come out. “Gods, what are you doing here, Malfoy?”

“That’s no way to speak to your  _ cousin,  _ Dorea.” Draco put emphasis on the fact that he was related to Dorea.

Fred and George came out next, and Fred instinctively went over to Dorea. Draco adopted a look of fake surprise. “Ah, I should have known you’d be here with the Weasels.”

Harry flared up, but tried to keep his cool. Thankfully, the adults had just come out of the shop, and among them Sirius. “Right, where’s our last stop?” Sirius hadn’t even noticed Draco’s presence yet.

“I still can’t believe they let a man like you out of prison.” Draco said, looking through his nose at Sirius, another relative.

“What are you doing here, Draco?” Remus asked his former student calmly, although his eyes screamed that he didn’t want the conversation to carry on further.

“Yeah, haven’t you got to follow your daddy around?” Sirius said mockingly, “Or is he in Knockturn Alley?”

Harry bit back a laugh. Draco’s nostrils flared. “Where my father is right now is none of your concern.”

Unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy turned up, and seemingly from nowhere, cane in hand. Harry heard Arthur Weasley make a noise, and Mrs Weasley was seemingly trying to restrain him.

“Come, Draco, else all your textbooks will have been sold out. Besides, we don’t want to be attacked by those  _ savages _ .” The Malfoy patriarch called out, and sneered towards the end.

Arthur Weasley made to storm forward, but was held back and talked down by his wife, Remus, and Tonks. Sirius was glaring at the two Malfoy’s backs.

Their Diagon Alley trip was concluded by a visit to the pet shop. Harry wanted to get Hedwig a few treats, and Hermione wanted to get Crookshanks a few things as well. Ladened with bags, they concluded their day out and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.

“We’ll drop our stuff off at Black Manor, and then we’ll Floo over to Grimmauld Place for the party they’re having tonight.” Sirius explained to him as they were waiting for a free fireplace. Harry nodded. When he got back up to his bedroom, he set the brown paper bags filled with the items he had bought down on his dresser, whilst he got changed in order to get ready to go over to Grimmauld Place.

They Floo’d through to Grimmauld Place at six, and they were welcomed with a large banner in the kitchen saying: “ _ Congratulations Ron & Hermione - New Gryffindor Prefects!” _

Mrs Weasley immediately came over to them, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re right on time, the food’s just done. We’ll be having a little buffet, rather than a sit-down dinner.”

Sirius went over to Remus, and Amelia found herself just sticking near her friends. Arthur and Bill Weasley soon arrived, with a lumpy Mundungus Fletcher in tow, and were both thrilled for Ron. Moody even had a few choice words - something along the lines of Ron being able to withstand major jinxes. Kingsley was conversing with Remus in the corner. Mrs Weasley spoke up. “A toast - to Hermione and Ron - the new Gryffindor Prefects!”

Ron was beet red as everybody toasted him and Hermione. A thought came to Amelia then - Ron had bested Harry at something. Normally it was always her twin brother in the spotlight, but today that wasn’t the case. Her twin didn’t even seem to care - he was probably relieved that the badge didn’t go to him.

She grabbed a plate and went to start loading it up. Tonks was between her and Harry. “I was never a Prefect myself,” she had said. “Professor Sprout said I lacked certain qualities.”

“Like what?” Ginny asked.

“Like the ability to behave myself.” Tonks replied.

Amelia, Harry and Ginny started laughing. Hermione was unfortunately drinking her butterbeer at that moment, and started choking. Ginny thumped her on the back.

Amelia felt herself accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation Remus and Sirius were having about James Potter. “... You were the only one out the four of us to get that damned Prefect badge, Remus.” She felt yet another connection with her dad - he hadn’t been a Prefect either. 

She noticed that Harry was over in the corner with Fred, George and Mundungus Fletcher, and they seemed to be having a hushed conversation. Fletcher kept glancing around nervously, as if he expected Moody or Mrs Weasley to come storming over and demand to know what they were discussing. Amelia seen Fletcher hand the Weasley twins money and a bag of something. After a minute, the twins left the room…

She felt a nudge, and seen Tonks next to her. The young Auror’s hair was ginger and waist-length today, and she could have passed as a Weasley herself. “It’s so unfair,”

Amelia’s eyebrows furrowed. “What is?”

“How pretty you are.”

Amelia felt herself laugh. “How much have you had to drink, Tonks?” She asked the young woman, half sarcastically.

“Have you honestly no idea how stunning you are, Amelia?” Tonks asked, hushed. “You and the girls have just.. Oh, I don’t know, have grown so much! But you especially, you look as pretty and as elegant as a doll.”

Amelia hadn’t noticed this view on the matter. She had grown in height since fourth year, but surely that was only to be expected of a teenager? “Well, I have noticed that Dorea’s gotten prettier.” She said truthfully, but also tried to take Tonk’s attention off her. Dorea had put light beach waves in her dark hair tonight, which really suited her and made her look even more like her father. 

“Yes, I’ve noticed, but this is you we’re talking about.” Tonks agreed but kept persisting.

Amelia felt herself blush immensely. She wasn’t used to this much praise regarding her looks. “I haven’t noticed any change in myself,” she thought out loud, “at least, I don’t  _ feel  _ any different.”

“You’ll see what I mean when all the boys at Hogwarts are lining up to even get a glance off  _ the  _ Amelia Potter.” Tonks winked.

Amelia grinned even more, not realising how much she liked being told she was pretty. She sipped her butterbeer. She was about to say more when she caught sight of Harry leaving the room quite abruptly. Tonks had noticed too. “I’ll be right back,” was all Amelia said as she strode after her twin brother, wiping her hands on her pinafore dress.

She ascended the stairs which took her up to the main corridor. As she came to the top, she just managed to catch Harry going upstairs. However, she heard him call out, “Mrs Weasley?” and then Amelia heard some muffled sobbing.

On high alert, she walked as quickly as she could towards the staircase without disturbing Walburga Black, and followed her brother. As she came on to the level, she saw her brother seemingly frozen in place, standing in the doorway of the drawing room.

“Harry?” She whispered as she drew next to him, and her heart fell when she seen what had made him freeze.

Lying sprawled out on the floor,  _ dead,  _ was Ron.

A hysterical Mrs Weasley had her wand drawn, and it all came to Amelia.  _ Ron can’t be dead, he’s downstairs at the party!  _ Also, she had overheard Mad-Eye confirm that it was in fact a boggart rattling in this very room’s cabinet. Mrs Weasley must have gone to deal with it, and it took the form of her worst fear.

“ _ R-Riddikulus _ !” Molly Weasley barked. She stuttered though, and instead of Ron lying dead, it now took the form of a dead Ginny. The crying woman kept barking the incantation, but it just kept cracking and changing. Before her eyes, she saw the dead forms of Bill, Charlie, Percy, and the twins. It even changed to dead versions of two ginger men she didn’t recognise - they seemed to be identical twins, but they weren’t Fred nor George. Amelia was quite startled when it took the form of Harry, and then her. 

Amelia went to draw her wand, but then she heard people running up the stairs. Sirius was next to her now. “What’s going on?”

At the exact moment her godfather came in, the boggart changed to a deceased Dorea. Remus stepped in. “Molly, don’t worry, it’s just a boggart..” But even he was disturbed by the form it took. Even Moody had come up to investigate, she heard him stumping a mile away.

Now that Remus was facing the boggart, the boggart changed to the moon. He had hesitated.

“I’ll do it,” Amelia stepped forward. Her worst fear was uncle Vernon - specifically, a raging uncle Vernon who had a belt in his hand. But she could stomach it - it was just a boggart, and besides, she was never going to see the man again. It did change to Vernon Dursley, but the fat lard didn’t even get a chance to open his mouth before Amelia pronounced clearly, “ _ Riddikulus!” _

The boggart was now banished for good. 

“O-oh,” Mrs Weasley looked relieved, but more tears followed. 

“Molly,” Remus said, almost out of breath, “it’s fine, it’s gone.”

Amelia could feel Moody’s magical eye staring into her soul. Harry was seemingly still frozen in place, and Sirius was gaping at the patch of carpet where he’d seen the boggart pretend to be Dorea’s body. “D-d-d-don’t tell Arthur,” Mrs Weasley was furiously drying her eyes with her sleeve. “I don’t want him to find out… ‘m being silly.”

Remus had given her a tissue, and she blew her nose. “Oh, Amelia, Harry, dears, what must you think of me? In hysterics like that…” The woman said, shakily.

Amelia felt a surge of affection for the woman. “Don’t be stupid,” she said in a light, airy sympathetic voice.

“I-it’s just… It’ll b-be a miracle if we a-all survive.. What with p-p-Percy not speaking to us, what if… What if he.. He.. d-dies and… the last thing we did with him was f-fight?” Mrs Weasley only cried more at the thought of a dead Percy.

As Remus tried to reassure Molly, Amelia glanced back at her brother, who was by now no longer resembling a statue. His eyes were still as wide as saucers though. “You alright?” She mouthed to him. 

“Yeah,” he whispered, “there’s something I need to show you, though.”

They went into the boy’s bedroom as Harry pulled something from his pocket. It looked like a wizard's photograph. “Moody gave it to me. It’s the original Order of the Phoenix.”

“That means..” Amelia took it frantically. “Mum and dad..”

There they were. Standing almost at the forefront, with a young Sirius next to them, were James and Lily Potter. Amelia felt her heart soar. She spent that long just staring at them smiling that she almost forgot about the people around them.

Harry pointed out who was who. She recognised Hagrid, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Moody, Kingsley. She felt herself stiffen at the nerve of Peter Pettigrew being there. She was startled to be told that so many of the members in the picture had met their demise. Benjy Fenwick - found in pieces, Dorcas Meadowes - killed by Voldemort, Edgar Bones - murdered with a good chunk of his family, Caradoc Dearborn - assumed dead, never been found.. Frank and Alice Longbottom - tortured and in St Mungo’s… She realised that the two ginger twins in the photograph she had also seen the boggart portray were in fact Mrs Weasley’s own brothers, Fabian and Gideon. “It took five Death Eaters to kill them.” Harry said. Amelia caught sight of Dorea’s mum, Marlene Mckinnon. She was certainly a beauty, - doe eyes, a kind smile, thick blonde hair and a cheeky look about her. Dorea certainly resembled her - she looked like both her parents equally.

After a few minutes, Amelia started feeling somewhat different. Yet she didn’t quite know what it was. Guilt? Disturbance? Disgust? It was hard to pin-point. Why would Moody just spring this photograph on Harry, during a night of celebration? It certainly wasn’t a happy thing to learn that most of the people in the very picture had died in some of the worst possible ways - and it was made worse by the fact that both Harry and Amelia had witnessed their own parents death, as babies.

She gave the photo back to Harry almost as quickly as she had taken it. He held onto it a few moments longer, before putting it away. “We both look exactly like him,” Harry said, “dad, I mean.”

She smiled, her father’s young handsome face appearing before her eyes. “Yeah. It’s weird how we don’t really resemble mum. We’re both dark-haired.”

“They say Mum was very smart,” Harry commented, “so you have something in common with her, at least.”

“Oh Harry, you’re smart too.” Amelia said, annoyed a bit at the fact Harry still doubted his intelligence, “I guess we take after her in more ways than we know - what with our potions skills, and charms too.”

They went back down to the party, and Amelia was unsure to tell the others about what just happened. Mrs Weasley, whilst still red in the face, was looking cheery again. Ron was telling Tonks about his new Cleansweep, and Fred and George were bantering with Sirius and Remus. Arthur and Bill Weasley were discussing goblins with Kingsley and Mundungus had fallen asleep at the table.

As the night drew to a close, the residents of Black Manor had to get back to the house. They spent about ten minutes saying farewell, and Fred even managed to sneak a kiss on to Dorea’s cheek when the adults were distracted. 

They stepped in the fireplace and Floo’d back to the Manor. Amelia stifled a yawn, so decided to just turn in for the night. She groaned a bit when she realised that her purchases from today were sprawled out all over her bed, but decided to just put them all on her dressing table to deal with tomorrow.

She went to sleep that night dreaming of her parents smiling faces, yet she never heard them speak.

On the evening of the 31st of August, they were once again all in the duelling room. Dorea and Harry were in the middle of watching Amelia duel Sirius. Sirius had transformed the room to make it look like an alleyway setting, complete with dim darkness. The idea of the whole battle was mainly an ambush. 

Dorea watched as Amelia used her surroundings to her advantage. She used the walls on either side to divert and nullify spells, and not once did she light her wand with  _ Lumos, _ for it would just make Sirius’s job far easier. Dorea knew that Amelia’s quick-thinking would make her a good Auror someday, if she decided to pursue that career.

Sirius had sent out a Blasting curse, and caused the wall near Amelia to crumble a bit. She dodged it in plenty of time though, by silently moving backwards so that the rubble didn’t distract her. She fiercely sent out a Disarming charm, but she had sent something else out..

Sirius lightened the room again, which meant the duel was over. “Amelia, did you intentionally send out that Tripping Jinx?”

“No,” Amelia said frantically. “It was so weird, I just felt a wave of magic move out of me, like a sharp sensation.”

“That’s because you just used magic, wandlessly.” Sirius explained.

Dorea and Harry shared a look. Wandless magic was quite a powerful thing. “Oh…” Was all Amelia could really say. “It’s funny, because I don’t really know how I did it.”

“Wandless magic can be cast quite simply - I once accidentally changed Snape’s hair to the colour green simply due to focussing on the spell  _ really  _ hard, and I felt the same sharp sensation you felt - did it feel like it all went to your hand?”

“Yes, it was like a cold and fast flow,” Amelia replied, as the three of them were chuckling at the thought of Severus Snape with green hair. “Can I try doing it again?” 

“Yeah, give it another go. Make me trip over, or something.” Sirius offered. 

It took almost a minute, but Amelia did get success in the end, as Dorea seen her father fall over backwards, and her godsister flinched her hand back. 

“I think wandless magic seems very useful,” Dorea spoke up. “It certainly seems like an advantage to have.”

“Especially in a duel,” Harry agreed, “I’m just thinking… If your opponent doesn’t know that you can cast magic without a wand, then it can certainly be an element of surprise.”

“You’re correct, Harry,” Sirius nodded, “when I first trained as an Auror, on our first day our instructor told us that learning wandless magic is something to try and do, for the reason you just stated.”

“It takes a lot of going, though,” Amelia said, “I had to think really hard there, that’s why it took so long. The voice inside my head was practically screaming itself raw.”

“There’s a thought - there’s bound to be books on learning wandless magic in the library. Why don’t you have a look before bed, and then read about it in your spare time?” Sirius suggested. All three of them nodded. Dorea mentally noted to herself to find more books on wandlore - something which she had a keen interest in. She would certainly not find herself with nothing to read ever again with their fantastic library on the top floor.


	9. Back to School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Classes start up, the gang has their first Defence lesson with Professor Umbridge, and the mystery around the new Astronomy teacher continues

The next morning, Amelia was up at seven. She was excited to start another new year at Hogwarts, and although she was definitely going to miss Sirius and the house, there was the Defence Association to look forward to. She was positive she was going to form new friendships, and most likely with people she would never have dreamed of getting along with on a friendship level this time last year. 

When she enthusiastically got dressed and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast, she found Sirius already in there.  _ Gosh, this is rare. _

“Hey, Amelia.” Her godfather smiled warmly.

“Morning,” she replied back, as Ditsy and Dippey prepared her usual breakfast choice - warmly toasted bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. 

“You seem excited for school,” Sirius smirked.

“This year’s going to be a good year, I know it.” She replied enthusiastically. “Harry’s club is definitely going to be a massive hit, and even though there is the O.W.L’s, I just know things will look up.”

Harry came down twenty minutes later, and Dorea came down at seven fifty. “When are we meeting the Weasley’s, and where?” Dorea asked as she boiled the kettle.

“We’ll Floo to the station, and meet them at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.” Sirius explained, “they hope to get there within plenty of time, so all your luggage gets on safely. Have you definitely packed everything?”

“Yes,” Amelia confirmed - she had triply-checked last night. Harry and Dorea nodded yes’s as well.

“Are you going to miss us, whilst you’re here all on your own?” Harry asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. Remus will be coming over more often, as will the other Order members. I might persuade them to just occupy the umpteen other bedrooms here permanently and literally only use Grimmauld Place for meetings.” Sirius brushed off any concern. Amelia couldn’t help but notice the tiniest twinkle in her godfather’s eye, but maybe she was just imagining things.

After breakfast, she found herself quite bored. All her stuff was packed, and she didn’t quite want to take something out in case she forgot to pack it again. It was only half past eight, they didn’t have to leave until twenty-past ten. 

She wandered down the corridor to Dorea’s room. She knocked once before poking her head round. Dorea was scrambling to hide something, as she heard a slight crumbling of paper. “What’s up?” She asked.

“Erm, nothing much.” Dorea tried to sound inconspicuous.

“What’s that bit of paper?” Amelia asked.

Dorea sighed, but then revealed it. “Back at Grimmauld Place, I stole this off Kreacher. It’s.... A letter that my uncle wrote to my grandparents.”

Amelia tried to connect the dots. “You mean, a letter that Regulus wrote to Walburga and Orion?”

“Yes,” Dorea admitted. “Do you wish to read it?”

Amelia nodded, and her godsister handed the lengthy bit of paper to her.

She had read it twice within the space of minutes, and still kept whistling lowly. “Regulus was forced to be a Death Eater.”

“It certainly implies that, but I don’t know… He could have easily willingly joined but then changed his mind.” Dorea sounded unsure.

“Have you shown this to you dad?” Amelia pondered.

Dorea shook her head. “He barely speaks about his brother. When he does, he practically spits his name out like its vermin. I don’t know how he would react to it…”

She understood. “Yeah, I noticed. Maybe one day though. It’s nice to know that he cared about you though.” Amelia always wanted a kind and loving uncle, which uncle Vernon was not. Sure, Remus was technically her uncle, as was Sirius, but they weren’t blood related.

Dorea looked out the window forlornly. “He certainly had a heart, he wanted to protect me, despite knowing his brother hated him.”

Amelia tried to think. “How did he die?”

“The letter mentions that he was going to carry out a crucial task, regarding some locket.” Dorea said.

“What on earth is so crucial about a necklace?” Amelia sniggered. “Didn’t realise Voldemort was so fashionable.” They both laughed at that.

At twenty minutes past ten, they Floo’d over to King’s Cross Station, and stepped out on to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was not that busy, but more people were coming through the barrier every minute. They steered their luggage towards a pillar which was a little bit away from one of the train doors, which would give them easy access to board it.

At ten forty, the Weasley’s and Hermione still hadn’t arrived. Sirius was getting restless. “Come on, where are they?”

At ten forty-five, the conductor opened the doors for luggage to be let on, and at ten fifty students were allowed to board. Harry would have preferred they have a compartment entirely to themselves, but in order for that to happen the Weasley’s had to hurry up.

“Maybe we should go and grab a compartment?” Dorea suggested, speaking quite loudly as the Platform was now noisily filled with Hogwarts students and parents wishing their kids farewell.

“Yeah, so we’re not left sharing one.” Amelia agreed, as did Harry.

“Right,” Sirius turned to them, no longer staring at the barrier. “Have a great time, work hard, study hard, and good luck with the club!” 

Harry grinned at his godfather. He was really going to miss him. “I’ll write to you every few days!”

After a minute, they boarded the train and grabbed the first available compartment that was free. “Hermione and Ron will initially have to go to the Prefect meeting,” Harry realised.

“Oh well, they’ll know where to find us when they’re doing the rounds.” Amelia responded. 

“It’s a bit weird how they’re so late,” Dorea said, in a slightly worried tone as she kept peeking out the window she was seated next to, staring at the barrier. At ten fifty-six, they finally caught sight of the Weasley’s, who were accompanied by Tonks, Mrs Weasley, Moody and Remus. Sirius rushed to help get their luggage on as they all quickly hugged and said farewell.  _ Finally, they’re here,  _ Harry thought,  _ we didn’t leave without them. _

There was a knock at their compartment door, which was a bit odd as none of the Weasley’s had actually boarded yet. It was Neville. “Hey guys, can I come in?”

Harry nodded, and Neville Longbottom entered their compartment. Just as Neville seated, there was another knock at the glass door. The door opened, and a younger, pale blonde girl was looking dreamily at them, with a magazine in her hand. “Oh, is it alright if I join you all?”

Harry didn’t want to be rude, but he reckoned there would still be enough room for Ginny, Ron and Hermione, as Fred and George would probably go and find Lee Jordan anyway. “Of course you can sit with us,” he answered, trying to see if he recognised her, “I’m Harry.”

“I know who you are, you’re Harry Potter. You two are Dorea Black and Amelia Potter, right?” The girl said, looking at his sister and godsister at the end. 

“Yeah, we are.” Dorea replied politely, although she looked a bit awkward.

“I’m Luna Lovegood, although you can call me Loony.” The girl introduced herself.

“But, that seems like an awful nickname?” Harry was startled at the girl's nickname, which sounded like it was offensive. Neville also looked quite startled at the nickname, although he was trying to mask a laugh.

“Oh, it’s just what people call me.” Luna replied as if it wasn’t something that affected her. As she sat down next to Neville, the train tooted its horn, and it was almost time to leave. Harry soon remembered that his godfather was probably still on the platform, wanting to wave them off. Sirius stood between Remus and Mad-Eye. As the train got ready to disembark, Harry was suddenly already missing his godfather, and yet he was only a few feet away. In fact, he was also going to miss Mrs Weasley, Remus and Tonks, and even Mad-Eye. He was feeling doubly fond of everybody who was beyond the window, waving them off, as the train left at eleven on the dot.  _ It’s not the end of the world,  _ Harry thought, as the train was no longer near the station,  _ you’ll see him again at Christmas. _

He turned back to face Luna. “What year are you in?”

“Oh, I’m a fourth year Ravenclaw.” The girl supplied.  _ Ginny must know her, surely. _ “I heard about your godfather, and how he was declared innocent of all crimes. Didn’t you also bring back Peter Pettigrew from the graveyard?”

“Yes,” Harry answered, trying not to stutter as an image of Cedric’s dead body was suddenly floating before his eyes. “That was the core evidence of Sirius’s innocence, Pettigrew being very much alive.”

Luna hummed. “I suppose the Wrackspurts helped out at the trial too.”

Harry was taken aback quite a bit, as Neville was biting his tongue to suppress a laugh. “What are Wrackspurts?”

“They make your brain go all fuzzy and confused,” Luna explained, “I suppose that’s why Fudge said he was innocent, even though he didn’t really want to, which explains all the bad press in the  _ Daily Prophet.” _

Harry was quite startled at this view on the matter, but nonetheless he liked Luna Lovegood. She was certainly a bit odd, but hey, not everybody was the same.

As promised, they saw Fred and George in the corridor, and they said they were going to find Lee to plan further tricks for their final year. Ginny soon came into their compartment, whilst bidding farewell to who Harry recognised as Michael Corner. 

“You won’t believe the morning I’ve had…” Ginny went to start explaining, but then saw Luna. “Oh, hello Luna.”

“Hi Ginny.” Luna called out in a friendly tone, despite not even looking up from her magazine. Harry had to do a double take when he noticed she was reading it upside down.

Ginny then explained how she had been knocked unconscious that morning, when Fred and George charmed their trunks to fly down the stairs to save carrying them… only, they had barrelled into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs. There wasn’t a single bruise on her, so Mrs Weasley must have mended her. 

The trolley lady was soon making her way up the corridors, and Harry bought enough sweets for everybody, and kept a few for Ron and Hermione. “Thank you,” Luna had said as she picked a few sweets from his hand. “This must be what having friends feels like.”

Harry almost couldn’t keep up with Luna Lovegood’s brutal honesty. “Luna, I’d like it very much if we could be friends.”

Luna’s face lit up. “That would be great!” Soon enough, everyone else in the compartment also swore to be Luna’s friend, although Neville said it less certainly, but it was lost on the girl.

Ron and Hermione came by about ten minutes later, and Harry internally admitted that the red Prefect badge looked a bit odd on Ron, now that he was wearing it. “Sweeties!” Was the first thing Ron said, and dived into the seat next to Ginny and started gorging on the sweets Harry got him.

“How was the Prefect’s meeting, then?” Amelia asked.

“It was fine - we got a list of duties, orders, and a code of conduct. We need to patrol the train every once in a while, but we don’t have to do that until twenty minutes from now.” Hermione explained, and Harry realised she was giving Luna an odd look.

“Oh, Luna, these are my friends Hermione Grainger and Ron Weasley.” he explained, gesturing towards the two of them. 

“Nice to meet you,” Luna said.

“Ew two,” Ron said, through a mouth stuffed with chocolate frogs.

“Who are the other Prefects?” Dorea asked, with curiosity.

“Well, the Slytherin ones are Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, which I for the life of me do not understand, since you need to have manners and a brain to be a prefect,” Hermione answered, her voice getting shrill towards the end, but she calmed down. “Ravenclaw ones are Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil, and Hufflepuff ones are Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott.”

Harry was pleased for Ernie, and Hannah who he knew from Herbology. He planned on getting to know more people, if he was going to broadcast this club to the student body, and figured his own yearmates would be people enough to start with.

They talked some more, and Harry explained to both Neville and Luna that he was starting the Defence Association. Neville looked amazed, and Luna looked very interested. “I have the sign-up sheet, do you want to sign your names?”

“Yes!” Neville said enthusiastically, and Luna nodded too. He now had ten names on the sheet of paper.  _ A very good start, _ he thought, although he froze a bit, as all the Heads of House were going to also advertise this club on each bulletin in the common rooms, and what if it received bad press? What if everyone thought it was a stupid idea and taunted him for it?

Their compartment door slid open, and Draco Malfoy poked his head inside. “Ah, the first annual meeting of the Loony Club.”

Harry stiffened, and bit back his tongue. “Don’t you have first years to be bullying, Draco?” He said in an annoyed tone.

“Professor Snape told me about your pathetic little club, Potter.” Malfoy sneered. “Why on earth anybody would want to learn from you is beyond me.”

“Suit yourself,” Harry said, not really caring for Malfoy’s opinion. Malfoy continued running his mouth, and even taunted Ron for the Prefect badge. Malfoy was suddenly cut off when he was flung backwards, and the compartment door slid shut. Yet nobody had their wands drawn. Harry almost thought that Amelia had used wandless magic again. However, Luna had her wand partly poking out of her sleeve. “Did you do that?” Harry asked, amused.

“He’s quite annoying, isn’t he? I figured he was clouding our minds.” Luna said airily. Everyone was now dead impressed with their new acquaintance.

As the train edged closer to Hogwarts, conversation started picking up about prospects for their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. “Who do you think it’ll be?” Neville asked.

“Hopefully somebody competent.” Amelia commented.

“Ooh, Fred and George managed to pick up something on the Extendable Ears the other day,” Ron spoke up, “apparently, Dumbledore had a lot of trouble trying to find one for this year, so Fudge introduced an Educational Decree - which gives the Ministry power to appoint a teacher if the Headmaster cannot find one. That means that some random Ministry worker could be teaching us.”

“In our O.W.L year too?!” Hermione sounded horrified. “We cannot afford to be having another incompetent Defence teacher!”

“All the more appeal for my club, then.” Harry said, and he realised he sounded a bit smug, but he actually prayed their teacher wasn’t that good, so that it would only entice more people to join in hopes of passing Defence.

Ron and Hermione had to do a patrol of the train then, so they left them, but would probably be back in ten minutes. Besides, the train had now crossed the border into Scotland, so another hour or two and they would be at school. Harry decided to take out his fourth year Ancient Runes book and have one last read of the final chapters before classes started up. Neville squinted at the cover. “Since when are you doing Ancient Runes, Harry?”

Harry explained to Neville his situation of taking up both Runes and Arithmancy. His fellow Gryffindor looked a bit startled at the fact he only picked it up just over three weeks ago. But his friend looked very supportive. “I’m sure Professor Trelawney will be gutted you’ve dropped her class.”

Harry laughed, “Yeah, but just think, you will get extra marks if you keep predicting my death.”

After another while talking, Dorea reminded them that they were getting ever closer to school, so they wore their robes over their clothes. Hermione and Ron got back a bit late, and so hurried to change. Hermione was complaining of some third year students running up and down the corridor, tripping each other up.

As the train wheeled to a stop at Hogsmeade Train Station, Harry felt a warmth sour through his heart as he saw the familiar sight of Hogwarts castle through the slightly steamed up window. As he grabbed both his luggage and Hedwig’s cage, he stepped down onto the platform, he tried to see if he could find Hagrid, but he didn’t even hear the man’s voice calling out for the first years to follow him. He waited for his friends to get off the train before he spoke. “There’s no sign of Hagrid.”

“Oh gosh, I wonder what’s happened?” Amelia said, looking a tad worried.

“What if he resigned or something?” Ron voiced.

Harry didn’t want to consider that possibility very much. He was brought out of his worries when they walked towards the carriages, for he could finally see what was pulling them - skeletal, bony horses.

“Why have I never seen them before?” He thought out loud. 

“Seen what?” Dorea asked, looking around.

“Those animals, pulling the carriages.” Surely he wasn’t the only one to have noticed them?

“There’s nothing there Harry…” Hermione said.

“There is so,” he said, and wondered why on earth he could see them but the others couldn’t. They stepped into a carriage, and were followed by Luna and Neville. “I saw them too, Harry, they’re called Thestrals.” Luna said lightly.

“Those bony horses?” He asked. Hermione was still looking flabbergasted.

“Yes. They can only be seen by people who have witnessed death, and you saw Cedric Diggory die, so it's only natural you’re seeing them now.” Luna explained, although Hermione looked quite angry, as if she was making that up.

“Why can’t I see them? Me and Harry both witnessed our parents die.” Amelia wondered.

“I suppose you were too young to comprehend death, even though you did witness it, you probably didn’t realise what it was.” Luna said, putting her copy of  _ The Quibbler  _ away in her bag, as she stared either at her hands or out the window. Harry thought that did make sense though, so believed Luna.

Soon enough, they were amongst the crowds of students slowly filling in to the Entrance Hall. “Alright, Harry? Have a good summer?” Harry found himself alongside Terry Boot, a fellow yearmate of his who was in Ravenclaw.

“It was great, Terry, I learned Ancient Runes and Arithmancy just three weeks ago.” He decided to be honest, as he knew Terry took those classes. 

Terry looked bewildered. “Oh my gosh, really? That sounds pretty tough going.”

“It was hard, but I passed Runes no bother. Arithmancy though… I won’t be in the class, I’ll be having private lessons with Vector instead, in the evenings.” He explained over the loud hustle and bustle.

Terry looked happy for him though. “Oh well, it still means you’re taking it, so that can only be a good thing!” They were now in the Great Hall, so it meant they had to go to their House tables. “See you later, Harry!” Terry said farewell. He said it back, making a mental note that he could probably ask Terry for help in Runes and Arithmancy if he ever needed it, as he was very smart. Anthony Goldstein took the subjects too, he knew, so he planned to get to know him at some point too.

As they walked down Gryffindor table to their usual spot, Harry couldn’t help but notice a lot of people were glaring at him, from all houses. “Why does everyone look like they want to hex me?” He whispered to his friends.

“Well, Harry, you know how the  _ Daily Prophet  _ thinks you’re mentally challenged for saying that You-Know-Who is back?” Ron said, and Harry nodded his head, “Well, it seems that people have bought their stories.”

He groaned. He wanted nothing more than for that paper to go bust. He remembered being at Grimmauld Place and reading a few of the copies, and was not the least impressed at them daring to slip his name into stories that didn’t even relate to him at all, - and they even brought Amelia’s name into it too. He stiffened, and moodily tucked into his dinner as the food appeared on the table. However, he glanced at the staff table, and felt his heart drop when he didn’t see Rubeus Hagrid there either - instead, his place was occupied by Professor Grubbly-Plank. “He’s not here.”

Hermione made a worried noise. “Oh, I hope nothing terrible’s happened…”

Dorea pointed something else out. “Hey, where do you think Professor Sinistra is?”

It had just occurred to Harry that indeed, the Astronomy professor was in fact another member of staff absent. They also managed to work out who the new Defence teacher was - a toad-like woman, dressed in pink. “That was one of the women at my trial!” Harry remembered suddenly. “She was sitting right next to Fudge.”

The Sorting Hat commenced the start of the Sorting ceremony after all the first years made their way to the front of the hall, and this year it spoke of Hogwarts being in danger from external, deadly foes, and how we must unite or crumble. Harry thought it very foreboding. “It must have taken ideas from you, Harry,” Ron remarked, “wanting to unite and all that.”

The Sorting Ceremony, ever a slightly long affair, took most of the night, and he cheered whenever someone got Sorted into Gryffindor, and due to his new outlook on house unity, gave a small clap for the ones sorted into the other houses too. 

Just as Dumbledore got onto talking about Quidditch tryouts, did the woman dressed in pink butt in. “ _ Hem-hem, _ ”

The Headmaster looked curiously at his colleague, before taking his seat as the woman made to stand. “Thank you, headmaster, for those sweet words of welcome.” Harry cringed as he heard the woman speak for the first time - her voice was so high-pitched she could probably audition for an opera, and it was so girlish, as if she was talking to a room of toddlers. “It is so nice to come to a school and see so many faces smiling up at me!”

Quickly surveying the room, Harry realised that there were barely anyone smiling, and if they were they were biting back laughter. “I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all. I am sure we will be very,  _ very  _ good friends!”

The woman went on about how the Ministry held the importance of educating the youngsters of the magical world in high regard, and how certain old and new traditions must be upheld. Amelia had long stopped listening, and instead her and Dorea were quietly chatting. Susan Bones, over on the Hufflepuff table, was gawking spectacularly at Professor Umbridge and sniggering with Megan Jones. Both Hannah and Ernie were still listening, but their eyes seemed very interested in the enchanted ceiling and were probably only half-listening due to their statuses as Prefects. 

Her speech over, Umbridge took her seat again, and Dumbledore only had a few final words to say about Quidditch tryouts before he dismissed them all to their common rooms. Hermione harshly reminded Ron that they had to show the first years to the common room, and told him off for referring to them as “midgets”. Harry instead walked the other way, down to the staff table, to speak with his Head of House.

“Mr Potter, details about your club has now been put on the bulletin boards in each house’s common room.” McGonagall explained. “Over the next few days, people will be able to sign their house’s sign-up sheets, and they will have until Friday to do so. Of course, they can still sign up after that date at any time, but it’s just to see initial numbers. Have you thought of a day where you’re going to hold your first session?”

He had. “I was thinking of meeting with the Senior group first, as they’re probably going to take the most time getting used to mingling with other people, and I was thinking on Saturday evening? The Junior group, I was thinking next Monday evening.”

McGonagall nodded. He noticed that Professor Flitwick was still at the table. “Professor Flitwick here would also like to have a role in this group, Mr Potter.”

“Oh?” Harry was pleasantly surprised.  _ Surely endorsement from a teacher makes it sound good... _

“Yes, as you know I am a duelling champion. I was thinking of also attending your sessions, Mr Potter. It is inevitable that mistakes can be made, so if any member gets injured, I will be able to heal them.” His Charms professor explained.

“Great!” Harry hadn’t actually thought of that.

When Harry eventually got up to the common room, Hermione was in animated conversation with Ron, Amelia and Dorea. “What did you think of Professor Umbridge’s speech, Harry?” Hermione asked him.

“Erm, it was a lot of waffling, to be honest.” He admitted as he sat down.

“Well, if you cared to listen, you would realise that there was actually some implied information.” Hermione replied shrilly.

“And what would that be?” He asked, as he noticed that Seamus was whispering to Dean.

“The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts.” Hermione supplied.

Dorea did actually think Hermione was right, as it was very clear that Fudge put Umbridge in the position of a teacher to spy. Fudge had a great dislike towards Dumbledore, and so would want to quell down anything he thought out of order.

Her eyes wandered the common room, and she noticed that a few people had taken notice of the bulletin board - where, displayed eye-catchingly, was details of Harry’s club.

“Woah, Harry,  _ you’re  _ going to be running a Defence club?!” Colin Creevey gasped with admiration, which caused the whole Gryffindor common room to stare over at them.

Harry tried to hide his blush. “Yeah, we need to learn how to defend ourselves, now-”

“-Oh here we go, ‘ _ now that You-Know-Who’s back’. _ ” Seamus cut in quite savagely in a voice imitating Harry’s which caused Fay Dunbar and her friend to giggle. Dean was also sat with them, but he neither smiled nor laughed, clearly stuck between loyalty to two friends.

Dorea glanced at her godbrother, who was quite clearly trying to calm himself down. Amelia looked ready to jump to her twin brother's defence at any given moment. “Why do you say that, Seamus?” Harry asked simply, although he was so close to sounding defensive.

“Hmm, well, lets see,” Seamus stood up, “My mam didn’t want me returning to Hogwarts this year, as  _ The Daily Prophet  _ says that both you and Dumbledore have lost their marbles, what with both of you saying that You-Know-Who is somehow alive, and don’t even get me started on Cedric Diggory’s death, and how you brought that Pettigrew man back but couldn’t save your teammate. That’s dodgy.” The boy said venomously.

“Well, why don’t you just stick to reading the  _ Daily Prophet  _ then, and believe Rita Skeeter like your insipid mother does, and it’ll tell you everything you need to know.” Harry bit back. Dorea didn’t think this a good start to the school year.

Seamus gasped. “Don’t ye dare talk about my mother like that!”

“I’ll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!” Harry almost snarled.

“I’m not sharing a dormitory with you, no, you’ve lost your wits.” Seamus jabbed a finger in their direction.

Ron finally stood up. “That’s out of order, Seamus.”

“Oh-ho,  _ I’m  _ the one that’s out of order?! Well, take a look at your own little circle!” Seamus retorted, this time with his voice raised. Lavender and Pavarti looked like they were unsure who’s side to take.

“Unfortunately for you, mate, I’m a prefect!” Ron said, gesturing to himself, and sounded confident with his new level of authority. “Do you want to get detention, Seamus? No? Then watch your tone!”

Seamus Finnigan, who almost looked like steam was going to come out of his ears any minute, made a noise of contempt before wheeling on his heels up to the boys dormitory, looking vengeful and muttering curse words.  _ The boy’s dorm is going to be fun tonight,  _ Dorea thought, sarcastically,  _ they’ll be walking on eggshells around Seamus now. _

The girls dorm was only slightly better. Lavender declared, as they were unpacking, that Harry was attention seeking. Parvati interestingly stayed quiet. Hermione was having none of that. “Lavender, how long have you known Harry?”

Lavender Brown looked startled, but held her ground, “Five years today.”

“In those five years, has he ever lied to any of us about anything?” Hermione almost snapped, but her tone was demanding.

“W-well, not off the top of my head-”

“-Exactly!” Hermione cut in. “So why on earth would he choose now of all times to lie about what happened the night of the Third Task, hmm? Who else would have killed Cedric, if not Pettigrew, acting on commands of the dark lord?”

Lavender looked stumped, as she was trying to wrack her brian, “But the  _ Prophet-” _

“-Is a load of bollocks.” Amelia finished her sentence. “Do you honestly believe a single word that comes out of Rita Skeeter’s mouth?”

Lavender looked affronted, as if Amelia had just insulted a great public figure. “S-she’s the editor-”

“-Of a so-called newspaper, yet its stories are that false and dubious they belong in a gossip magazine.” Dorea added her voice to the debate. Parvati still looked on the fence - she was clearly listening to them, but just pretending to straighten a non-existent crease out of her Weird Sisters poster.

Lavender let out a rather fierce growl. “B-but why is it, then, that Dumbledore got removed from his seat on the Wizengamot, and the International Confederacy of Wizards?” She countered, whipping around to face them, her arms crossed, and almost looking as vengeful as Seamus.

“It’s a long story, but basically, Fudge is terrified of Dumbledore.” Dorea supplied.

Lavender laughed a bit. “What? That’s a pathetic excuse.”

Dorea swallowed her anger, and tried to educate Lavender instead of arguing with her. “He’s under the impression that Dumbledore wants to take over his position as Minister.”

Lavender had gone a bit quiet, but she did speak. “Why?”

“Because there is - well, there  _ was,  _ \- great public support for Dumbledore. Way more support than there is for Fudge.” She continued.

Lavender Brown was  _ almost  _ on the same page as her. “Well, I suppose that does make sense,” Dorea almost sighed with relief, until the girl's tone changed again, “but there are still flaws in Harry’s story.”

Amelia muttered some choice words, and Hermione whipped round again. “Like what, Lav?” she demanded.

“The Tri-Wizard Tournament was very high security, to make sure nothing went wrong, so  _ why  _ is it that the cup took both Harry and Cedric to a stupid  _ graveyard?”  _ She said hotly. 

Dorea almost facepalmed. Clearly, it was going to take some time to convince Lavender alone, and there were still hundreds of students probably that held the same opinion as her. “Because who we thought was Professor Moody, but was actually Barty Crouch Junior, enchanted the cup to take them there in the first place!” Amelia answered, in a voice that was teetering on being superbly annoyed.

Lavender had had enough, plainly. “I’m going to bed, goodnight.” Although her tone of voice implied that she wanted them to have a crap night's sleep. She yanked the curtains around her four-poster bed and they didn’t hear another sound from her.

Parvati did look sympathetic, but didn’t know who to believe. “I’m sure she’ll come round,” she said, in a voice above a mutter. It wasn’t long before she was also shutting the curtains around her own bed and changing into pyjamas.

The three remaining inhabitants of the Gryffindor fifth year girls dorm all sighed, clearly frustrated that Lavender was blind to the truth. Hermione’s nostrils were still flared, and she was whispering her anger off to them as she all but slammed her trunk shut.

With classes starting up tomorrow, Dorea knew that Harry would be subjected to a few sneers and possibly even angry remarks, but she decided that she would defend him every time, as would their other friends. Besides, it would only be so long until Voldemort moved out into the open, so people would see the light.

She hoped.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. Dolores Jane Umbridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: More classes, and more people gradually start believing Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: My face claims for characters are as follows:  
> Amelia Potter: Sarah Bolger (specifically when she was in The Tudor’s)  
> Dorea Black: Anna Popplewell (from when she was in Narnia)  
> Theodore Nott: Joshua Whitehouse (when he was a bit younger)  
> Daphne Greengrass: Virginia Gardner  
> Astoria Greengrass: Katherine Langford  
> Megan Jones: Florence Pugh (specifically when she played Amy March)  
> Hannah Abbott: Ellie Bamber (especially when she played Cosette in BBC's version of Les Mis)  
> Susan Bones: Eliza Scanlen (particularly when she portrayed Beth March in Little Women)  
> Wayne Hopkins: Archie Madekwe  
> Justin Finch-Fletchey: Freddie Highmore  
> Anthony Goldstein: Tarjei Sandvik Moe  
> Terry Boot: Sean Delaney  
> Michael Corner: Edward Bluemel  
> Stephen Cornfoot: Ed Spleers  
> Sue Li: Lana Condor  
> Penny Haywood: Willa Fitzgerald  
> Tulip Karasu: Hoyeon Jung  
> Barnaby Lee: Froy Gutierezz  
> Jae Kim: Woo Do Hwan  
> Liz Tuttle: Amandla Stenberg  
> Badeea Ali: Selda Al Bayrak  
> Diego Caplan: Xolo Mariduena  
> Chiara Lobosca: Kiernan Shipka

Harry woke up at six-fifty, and was feeling optimistic for the day. They were to receive their timetables this morning, and he hoped he had a decent schedule for once.

The boys' dorm was only filled with the snoring noises coming from Ron, and some sleepy mumbling coming from either Neville or Dean’s bed, he couldn’t tell. Peeking out of his curtains, he seen that Seamus must already be up, as the hanging curtains around his bed were neatly tied back and his bed was somewhat made. _Does he think he’ll catch some disease if he’s in the same room as me?_ He thought arduously. Peeking out of the window, the weather was slightly gloomy - there were dark grey clouds out, yet it wasn’t raining yet. _Hopefully not an omen for today,_ he thought.

He couldn’t hear Seamus tip-toeing about the dorm, so assumed he was already either down in the common room or already at breakfast. Quietly getting dressed, he got his books out of his trunk and sorted them out into his bag. He reminded himself that he would have to see Professor Vector when the timetables were issued, so that he could fit in when he could do his Arithmancy lessons (Angelina had said last night that that Quidditch practises would be held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings as of next week).

As he was tying his tie, Neville announced his awakeness by stretching, and Dean followed a few minutes later by yawning. Ron was the last to wake up.

When Harry went down to the Great Hall for breakfast with his friends, he found that people were still staring at him, - however, most of them were now curious stares instead of death glares. He wondered what on earth had happened overnight for them to no longer be angry at him. 

When he sat down, he found that Anthony Goldstein was making his way towards him. Harry tried to read his expression - he didn’t look like he was coming over to berate him, but he didn’t hold his breath. “Morning, Harry,” Goldstein sat down at Ravenclaw table, yet his seat was back-to-back with Harry’s.

“Hello, Anthony,” Harry tried to reply cheerfully, turning in his seat, for he didn’t know Anthony that well. 

“I’m very interested in your club, in fact, quite a lot of Ravenclaw’s signed their names on the bulletin board last night, including me. I must ask - how did you come about starting it?”

He cleared his throat, and was very happy that a good few students had signed up from Ravenclaw alone. “Well, I had a think over the holidays, and realised that we would be much better and more organised if we were a united student front, rather than one that held stereotypical prejudices and therefore fractured,” he paused, “I’m not sure if you believe me when I say that You-Know-Who is back, but-”

“-Oh, I do.” Anthony reassured him. “We definitely need to up our game with knowing how to defend ourselves. To be frank, I’m not sure if her ladyship in pink will be very good at all.”

Harry chuckled at Anthony’s nickname for Professor Umbridge. “I agree, she doesn’t look like she knows much about teaching.”

“Well, nonetheless, I look forward to the first session on Saturday. Terry said you’ll also be in Ancient Runes?” Anthony said.

“Yeah, and I’m having private Arithmancy lessons too.” He answered.

“Give me a shout if you ever need help with them - I’m not an expert at them, but I do get quite good marks in both subjects.” Anthony said, before he turned back around to have his breakfast.

Hermione looked dead impressed. “Making new friends already, and it’s not even the first session yet.”

He laughed. “Hopefully a sign of more to come.”

The four heads of house were soon making their way down the tables, handing out timetables. Professor McGonagall was soon near their group. “Mr Potter, here is yours. Remember to have a chat with Professor Vector about meeting for Arithmancy.” She told him. He nodded, and waited for Hermione, Ron, Dorea and Amelia to receive theirs before comparing them all.

His read: 

Monday: Double History of Magic, double Potions, Ancient Runes, and to finish off, double Defence Against the Dark Arts

Tuesday: Double Charms, double Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and then double Herbology.

Wednesday: Ancient Runes first period, a blank second period, double Herbology, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and last period was Astronomy (Theory), but they also had an evening Astronomy lesson for their practical.

Thursday: First and second period was free, followed by a double period of Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and then double Potions.

Friday: Double Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Astronomy (Theory), Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and seventh was Ancient Runes.

Monday certainly looked like a crap day. He was just thankful he didn’t have Divination today (unlike Ron), and instead had Ancient Runes, which he was looking forward to actually having a teacher for. He was looking forward to Potions as well (just dreading Snape), as he had brewed almost all of the fifth year potions back at Black Manor, and had brought his notes for them with him. He could not wait to see Snape’s face.

Amelia and Dorea’s timetable was very similar, except they also had Muggle Studies on theres. Harry had always half-wanted to do Muggle Studies as a class, as he thought it would be very easy, having lived with the Dursleys, but it always clashed with Care of Magical Creatures, so decided against it.

“Woah, how is it that you’ve got free periods?” Ron realised, pointing out the gaps on Wednesday, where the second period was free, and Thursdays, where there was a double period in the morning blank.

Amelia compared hers next to his. “Maybe it's when you can have Arithmancy lessons with Vector?”

“That reminds me, I better go and speak to her…” He got up and walked down to the staff table. He was half-tempted to ask after Hagrid, and Professor Sinistra.

“Mr Potter, good morning, I hope your timetable is not too bad?” Vector welcomed him.

After five minutes, Harry worked out that the blank spaces on his timetable were in fact free deliberately. “I thought that I would have virtually no free periods, and that’s why I said we would meet in the evenings. But hence, I do have some free periods during the day.” Vector explained. Snape was glaring at him from down the staff table.

“Oh, great! So just to clarify, that’s when we’re meeting for Arithmancy?” He asked.

Professor Vector nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Mr Potter.” She even took her wand out and tapped it on the paper, where it filled the previously blank periods to say “Arithmancy”

Harry, very happy, walked back to Gryffindor table. He folded his timetable away for safekeeping before continuing to eat his breakfast. When the bell rang to signal the first period, he was slightly dreading that History of Magic would be kickstarting the academic year, but came up with another idea. He already knew what was covered in fifth year History, so as soon as he sat down, got his textbook out, flipped it to the relevant section, and started taking notes, whilst drowning out Binn’s dulcet tones.

Hermione was looking at him incredulously. “Are you even paying attention?” She whispered.

“I’m taking notes,” he answered, and even showed her the evidence. 

Hermione almost couldn’t believe it. Ron joked that he was becoming like her. He made a note in his notebook that Binns wanted an essay on Giant Wars for next week. 

As they were lining up for Potions in the corridor, Harry was speaking to his friends when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned, and it was Daphne Greengrass, who he knew was a Slytherin, but was one that had no prejudices. “Hello, Harry,”

He soon realised that this was their first ever conversation. “Hi, - you’re Daphne Greengrass, right?”

“I am,” she paused, “listen, I signed up to your club, and you’ll be glad to know that actually, a nice chunk in Slytherin did as well. Of course, the vast majority were making fun of it, but I actually agree with the whole idea you have surrounding it.”

“Oh, well, thanks, Daphne.” He said, as he heard behind him that more of the Slytherin’s were turning up. “I’ll see you there, then, on Saturday.”

“Don’t worry too much, Potter, you’ll soon find out that quite a lot of us Slytherin’s don’t bite.” Daphne Greengrass concluded their conversation with a smile, which she also directed at Amelia and Dorea, who vaguely knew her.

“She was alright, I suppose.” Ron said.

“I only know her from Runes, but she is a nice girl to talk to, Harry.” Amelia added in a quiet voice.

Professor Snape soon turned up and let them in. Harry and the gang took their usual seats up at one of the back benches. Neville and Dean joined them, and Seamus occupied the last seat opposite them, which he wasn’t that happy about, as he barely looked at them and instead elected to face the front.

“Welcome to your first O.W.L potions lesson,” Snape said, although his voice was in his usual monotone drone. “This year is going to be anything but easy. I find it appropriate to remind you all that in June, you will be sitting your OWL examination for this subject, which involves both a theory paper and a practical exam. I only take the very best into my NEWT Potions classes… Which already means that a good chunk of you in here can forget about even having it as an option for sixth year.” Snape glanced at both Neville and Harry. Harry found himself holding back a smug grin. _Little does he know._

“Do not think that I’m going to go easy on you all on your first day back. Today, we will be making a potion which commonly occurs in the OWL exam: the Draught of Peace.” At that, Harry internally cheered, and reminded himself of the spell _Laxo_ and to add the syrup of hellebore _before_ the porcupine quills. “The ingredients and method are on the blackboard,” Snape waved his wand, and they appeared. “Gather your ingredients and equipment. Begin.”

To most of the class, this potion was going to seem very new and therefore fiddly, but Harry, Amelia and Dorea already had made kegs of the stuff back at Black Manor. They all shared a secret glance.

Harry remembered his new routine, and gathered all his ingredients and prepared them accordingly before even igniting his cauldron. It was already unsettling Snape. “Potter, what on earth are you doing? Get your cauldron on heat, now.”

“I’m just preparing the ingredients, Professor, I was just going to turn it on when I was done doing that.” He decided to answer. Snape did a double take. It caused a few people to gawk over at their bench. Severus knew that technically, Potter wasn’t wrong to prepare the ingredients first - for it was something he often did himself so he wasn’t fiddling around, but yet he wondered where on earth he’d learned this initiative. 

Professor Snape turned on his heels with a glare, before he wandered back over to the Slytherin boys table, where Crabbe had already caused his cauldron to overflow. However, Snape didn’t even utter a word of complaint, and instead waved his wand to clear the mess. 

Ingredients all prepared, Harry finally got to work on the potion. He was soon working through the potion at his own preferred pace, and was making no mistakes due to reading over the steps twice. He added the new ingredients as soon as the potion turned the colour it was meant to, and Hermione was once again looking gobsmacked. “I have to come over to Black Manor at Christmas and use that Potions Lab, it must be so good to make you better at Potions.” She quietly remarked. He grinned, still pleased at his new-found skills in the subject. He was actually enjoying himself.

Soon, Harry found himself sitting down, for his potion was at the simmering stage, and he didn’t have to add the unicorn horn until the potion was purple in colour. He realised that he was just slightly ahead of Amelia and Dorea, and was probably going to be finished first out of the whole room. His small relaxation time didn’t last for long, as Snape seemed to be very distraught that he wasn’t doing anything. “Potter!”

“Yes, sir?” Harry said.

“Why are you sitting down?” Snape demanded, although the man could see for himself that the potion was at stage 10 of the recipe, meaning it was simmering until it turned purple. He cursed the boy in his head - _how_ had he improved so much?

“I’ve reached step 10, sir, I’m just waiting for it to change colour so that the unicorn horn can go in-”

“-How are you ahead of Miss Grainger?” Both Slytherin tables were now all turned round and looking. Even Seamus was looking across the table curiously. However, Snape soon realised that Amelia and Dorea were also ahead of Hermione. “And you two!” 

“Did a bit of reading over the holidays, sir,” Harry muttered.

“Oh yes, I’m sure your mutt of a godfather bought you _plenty_ of books with that money he got off the Ministry,” Snape mocked, and Harry could hear laughing coming from Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. “You have twenty-five minutes remaining!” He snapped at the class, stalking off.

The potion turned purple, and Harry carefully added the unicorn horn until it turned pink. He then stirred it until it turned red all the way through. With ten minutes of the class still to go, Harry took his cauldron off the heat, his Draught of Peace completed, carrying out the last step by adding exactly seven drops of hellebore. Amelia and Dorea were not far behind finishing, and Hermione was on the last few steps. Ron’s actually looked okay, but Neville’s was currently omitting green bubbles, but it wasn’t totally a disaster yet. 

“When you are done, fill a glass flask with your potion, label it with your name and bring it up to the front for testing and marking.” said Snape. “Homework: I want twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potions, for Thursday.”

Disembarking the class, the five of them headed back to the Great Hall for lunch. Amelia was pleasantly surprised when Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Justin and who she thought was Megan Jones approached them.

“You kept that club quiet the other day, mate!” Ernie said, referring to when Harry and him spoke in Diagon Alley.

“Have you all signed up for it?” Her twin asked them, surprised.

“We were among the first to in Hufflepuff!” Susan said happily. “We think it’s a really good idea, although a certain Zacharias Smith will take some convincing.”

Amelia glanced at Harry, who was looking a bit nonplussed. “Does he think I’m an attention-seeking maniac?”

“Unfortunately, I think so, though he hasn’t actually said anything.” Hannah said. “He was telling us his parents think Dumbledore is a loony, so that probably means they don’t believe you, Harry.”

Lunch passed by quickly, with Angelina dropping by to tell them that Keeper tryouts would be on Sunday afternoon. She expected them to be there, even the reserves (Dorea was a Reserve Chaser whilst Amelia was the Reserve Seeker), in order to see how the new Keeper would fit in with the team dynamic. Ron went a bit pale, as he was going to try out for that position, but they reassured him that he would be fine. Soon after that, they were making their way to Ancient Runes, except Ron, who was heading to the North Tower with Neville for Divination. Harry was sounding very excited to be joining the class.

Professor Babbling wasn’t too harsh on them for their first day back. She spent twenty minutes or so summarizing what they would cover in fifth year Ancient Runes, and also explained the OWL exam. Amelia sat up a bit when Babbling said that they were going to be carving Runes into stones that year - for that was quite practical, whereas third and fourth year runes were mostly theory and translating, so she was excited to finally be doing something with them. Though Babbling did say that carving was quite a tricky process, so they would be covering the theory side of it first before carving after Christmas, or even Easter, as carving runes was very unlikely to actually come up in the exam due to the very precise and timely process it was to just carve a single rune.

After that, the class was mostly just a recap of the final few topics they covered in fourth year, to refresh their memories. Amelia noticed that Babbling didn’t give Harry any special attention or a hard time just because he was so new to the subject, which she could tell he appreciated. He even answered a few questions Babbling asked the class, which impressed her that much she awarded Gryffindor ten house points. 

When the bell rang for the sixth period, they met up with Ron at the staircase and made their way to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Umbridge. They didn’t quite know what to expect. They were neither dreading or looking forward to it. They hadn’t a chance to ask anyone who’d already had her what she was like, and they were in for a double period with the woman.

When they entered the classroom, they found their new teacher already sat expectantly at her desk, seemingly smiling at thin air until she turned to look at them. “Come in, dears!” She called out to them.

Amelia grabbed the middle row for them, and Dorea and Ron sat either side of her, with Harry and Hermione sitting nearer the aisle. The class started filling in after them - Seamus sat right behind them with Dean, and Neville found himself joining them. The Slytherin’s turned up not too long after, Malfoy ever the ringleader, and he said a polite welcome to Professor Umbridge, who asked how his father was doing.

“Oh yeah, I know _exactly_ where her loyalties lie.” Dorea mumbled next to her.

Hermione had overheard. “I don’t think you can come to that conclusion yet, Dorea, she only asked about him.”

“We’ll see.” Was her godsisters response as she got her books out.

When everyone was accounted for, Professor Umbridge started the lesson. “Good afternoon, all!”

A handful of people muttered “good afternoon” in response.

“ _That_ won’t do, will it? I would prefer if you could all reply ‘Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge’. Let’s try that again. Good afternoon, class!”

 _What are we, back in primary school?_ Amelia thought jokingly, as she added her voice to the class in chanting back, “Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge!”

“There, that wasn’t too difficult, now was it?” Umbridge clapped twice and cooed a bit at them in a sweet tone. “Wands away and quills out, please.”

Amelia’s eyebrows furrowed, and a quick survey of the class found that everyone was indeed looking confused. Never had they spent a full Defence lesson writing - there was always a time to practise. Amelia obliged reluctantly, stowing her wand away in her bag, the class doing the same.

Professor Umbridge grabbed her own short wand from her desk and must have performed the Blackboard Writing Spell, for writing appeared on the blackboard at once: _Defence Against the Dark Arts: A Return to Basic Principles_

 _Oh my lord,_ Amelia thought, _this is going to be boring._ “Well, as I recall, your teaching in this subject has been rather all over the place, hasn’t it? The constant annual changing of teachers has certainly not helped - and none of them have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum. That has resulted in you poor dears to be far below the expected standard we would hope to see coming into fifth year. You will all be pleased to know that these problems have been met with a solution. The Ministry has brought out an approved, theory-based course of defensive magic. Copy down the following, please.”

She pointed at the blackboard again, and the words _Course Aims:_ appeared below the title above. It was followed by:

  * _Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic._


  * Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.


  * Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical usage.



For a few minutes, the classroom was filled with the sounds of students copying the writing down with their quills. Dorea was already hating this lesson, and they were only five minutes into the double period. She could tell this woman was an utter joke - she would have preferred Professor Lockheart to be teaching them right now, with or without his memory altered, and that was saying something, for he was another joke. _At least he let us be practical, though._

“Has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory_ by Wilbert Slinkhard?”

A few people in the class murmured agreement. 

“I think we shall try that again,” Professor Umbridge was acting like they were toddlers learning discipline, “When I ask a question, I expect a ‘Yes, Professor Umbridge’ or a ‘No, Professor Umbridge’. So: Has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory_ by Wilbert Slinkhard?”

Dorea sighed, irritated, as she said “Yes, Professor Umbridge,” with the class.

“Good, then I shall like you all to turn to page five and start reading Chapter One. There will be no need to talk.” The woman instructed. Umbridge then walked behind her desk and sat herself down in the chair, and was observing them all with her toad eyes. Dorea opened the book and pretended to read, but was trying to think of ways to persuade Remus to come back and be their Defence teacher.

Dorea glanced at her friends, and realised that Hermione didn’t even have her book open, and instead was sat with her hand in the air. When Umbridge finally looked up from her desk, did she look quite startled. “What is your name, dear?”

“Hermione Granger. I have a query regarding the course aims,” Hermione declared.

“You don’t understand them? My dear, they’re quite easy to comprehend.” Umbridge smirked a bit.

“They mention nothing about practically using or learning defensive spells?” Hermione ignored that quip, “Isn’t that the whole point of this course?”

Umbridge let out a bit of a laugh. “ _Using_ defensive spells? Miss Granger, do you expect to be attacked in my classroom?”

“Wait, we aren’t going to use magic?” Was what came from Daphne Greengrass at the back of the class.

“Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark Arts is to-” Ron started

“-Students will raise their hands when they’re going to ask a question, Mr…?”

“Weasley.” Ron answered, and immediately raised his hand.

Professor Umbridge, looking mirthful, turned her back on them momentarily, before she turned back around. This time, Amelia and Harry both raised their hands. “Do you also have a question, Miss…?”

“Amelia Potter.” Amelia supplied, before carrying on. “Surely the whole point of this class is to prepare us for both internal and external attacks, which is why we need to learn defensive magic?”

“Are you a Ministry-trained education expert, Miss Potter?” Umbridge asked in a falsely sweet tone.

“No, but-”

“-Well then, I’m afraid you’re not qualified to decide what the ‘whole point’ of this course is. Now, please, can we all get back to the task at hand?” Umbridge said shrilly. “And to answer your question, Miss Potter, you will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way…”

“What’s the point in that?” Harry said loudly. “There’s nothing risk-free about being attacked-”

 _“Hand up,_ Mr Potter!” Umbridge almost sang.

Harry, sighing in annoyance, thrust his hand in the air. However, Umbridge ignored him, and instead moved around the class. “Your name is?”

Dorea turned around in her seat, and Umbridge was referring to Dean. “Dean Thomas, ma’am.”

“Well, what is your question, Mr Thomas?”

“Well, it’s like Harry said, if we’re going to be attacked, the attacker isn’t going to go easy on us.” Dean reasoned.

“Mr Thomas, I repeat, do you expect to be attacked during my lessons?”

“No, but I’m talking about outside of school, when we graduate-”

Professor Umbridge rudely cut him off. “I do not wish to willingly criticise the ways in which this otherwise fantastic school runs and operates,” she said, an abnormally wide smile on her face, “but you have been taught by some very, very unqualified teachers for this class that it is a wonder the Ministry did not step in sooner - not to mention, you have been lectured by extremely dangerous half-breeds.”

Dorea almost flipped there and then, and Dean carried on speaking in a defensive tone. “If you’re talking about Professor Lupin, ma’am, he was the best we had-”

“ _Hand up,_ Mr Thomas!” The woman said, all in one breath. Her voice went back to being girly. “Besides, who do you imagine would want to attack children, like yourselves?”

Dorea smirked as Harry proclaimed, “Hmmm, I don’t know, maybe, Lord Voldemort?”

A few people gasped at Harry’s use of his name. Neville almost fell off his chair, whilst Lavender almost cried out. Umbridge looked a bit murderous. “Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter.” She made to continue. “You have all been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned. Let me make this quite plain,” Dorea noticed that Harry was almost boiling over with anger. “This. is. A. lie.”

Harry lurched forward. “It is NOT a lie! I _saw_ him return, I fought him! I could tell you the bloody ritual Pettigrew used to revive him to a human form if you wish, Professor!” Harry said, furious.

“Detention, Mr Potter!” Professor Umbridge declared. “Tomorrow evening, five o’clock, my office. You are frightening other members of the class needlessly with your claims. And may I remind you, that Peter Pettigrew was sent to prison for killing those muggles all those years ago, _NOT_ for, as _you_ say, _reviving a Dark wizard.”_

Malfoy sniggered. Daphne Greengrass spoke up again. “But if that was the case, what was Pettigrew doing at the graveyard and just so happened to also be there with Harry and Diggory? He was clearly there to do something.”

“Miss Greengrass, please raise your hand if you wish to speak.” Umbridge said through gritted teeth. She was clearly getting tired of this conversation.

“So, according to you, Cedric Diggory just collapsed dead, randomly?” Harry challenged her again. Hermione was tugging his sleeve fiercely.

Umbridge’s face was stone cold. “Cedric Diggory’s death was a tragic accident.”

“Voldemort murdered Cedric, Professor, and you know it.” Amelia defended her twin brother. The class was now avidly turning their heads to watch either Harry or Umbridge like it was a tennis match.

Dorea jumped to the defence of Harry, and decided to speak up. “What has your precious Minister for Magic been telling you to believe, Professor?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Why? I think Dorea’s question was quite easy to comprehend, Professor.” Amelia jumped in. There was a stunned silence, and Umbridge turned a shade of purple. “I will _not_ tolerate cheek in my classroom. Detention for you both. You can join Mr Potter and me tomorrow at five.”

Dorea thought that a fair price to pay for calling the awful woman out on her diabolical brainwashing attempt on them.

“Now, please, can we return to the task at hand? We have already wasted enough time!” Professor Umbridge said in a brisk tone, implying that this debate was at an end. Though as the woman walked back to her desk, the class only resumed speaking in quiet tones. 

The rest of the double period was unfortunately spent in silence, as Umbridge commanded it. Dorea was still annoyed that she had got detention, but she had only stuck up for her godbrother, and Amelia had done too. _Oh well, it’s only detention, it won’t be that bad._

At dinner, news of what had happened in their Defence lesson seemed to spread fast, for some seventh year Slytherin boys were standing at the bottom of the Grand Staircase, circled them, and claimed that they had “no respect” for their new Defence teacher, who was only trying to stop Harry’s “rambles of utter rubbish” (according to them). However, the boys were soon sent flying backwards and into a heap when out of nowhere, Fred and George appeared next to them. “Pay them no mind.” George said.

Fred fell in beside her. “How was your first day of classes?” He asked, putting an arm around her.

“Apart from Umbridge’s class, fine. Snape was flabbergasted that me, Harry and Amelia are so good at Potions now.” She answered honestly.

At supper, Dorea found herself glancing up at the staff table between every few mouthfuls of roast chicken, as if Hagrid was going to walk through the doors any moment and appear there. _Where was he?_ Why had Dumbledore not even said anything? Surely a simple ‘Professor Hagrid will join us again in a few days’ would go a long way, but that fact that he hadn’t said that at the Welcoming Feast was annoying. Also, there was the other absence of Professor Sinistra. “Has anyone had Astronomy yet?” She wondered out loud.

“I don’t think so, and we won’t find out who the teacher actually is until, what, Wednesday? Is that when we first have it?” Amelia guessed.

Harry looked like he had no care for anything. “I’m just so annoyed.”

“You were right to stand up to her,” Hermione offered her support.

“I feel like there’s a ‘but’ incoming,” Harry muttered.

“ _No,_ there isn’t actually.” Hermione said haughtily. “I was only tugging on your sleeve so that you wouldn’t lose Gryffindor more House points, because no doubt she would have taken more.”

Ron grinned at Dorea and Amelia. “You two were brilliant, by the way, she was speechless.”

Dorea smirked. “She clearly didn’t want to say what Fudge told her either - which implies a lot of things.”

“Yeah, completely avoided the question.” Ron said, as he shoved a forkful of green beans into his mouth.

She looked up when they heard the brisk sound of footsteps coming from the staff table. It was Professor McGonagall, and she was looking at them. “You three, with me, now.” She commanded, gesturing to Harry, Amelia, and Dorea.

Half the Great Hall were staring at them on their way out, as if they’d just been expelled. She led them to the empty Entrance Hall. 

“Well, is it true?” McGonagall said, rounding on them.

“Err, is what true, Professor?” Amelia asked.

“That your twin brother shouted at Professor Umbridge, and that you two were cheeky to her?”

“Yes,” the three of them replied sheepishly, looking at the ground.

“You called her a liar?” She asked Harry.

“Yes.”

“You told her that He Who Must Not Be Named is back?”

“Yes.”

“Help yourselves to second helpings of dessert tonight.” McGonagall straightened up.

The three of them couldn’t believe it, they were expecting to be screamed at - for McGonagall was quite strong on discipline. “P-pardon?”

She smiled knowingly at them, and produced a note from Umbridge. “I applaud you for standing up to her. However, you three need to be more careful.”

Dorea swallowed, and the dread, which she was previously feeling, evaporated. “Misbehaving in her class could cost you more than house points or a detention. I’m assuming you three know where she previously worked, and I’m sure it’s plainly obvious who she spies for. She’ll be reporting everything to Fudge.”

All three of them nodded, sharing a glance of understanding. “It says here that you three will all be in detention with her from Tuesday to Friday this week, from five o’clock until seven.”

“What?! That’s almost every evening this week!” Harry exclaimed, horrified.

“That means we’ve got to do all our work on Sunday!” Amelia piped up, for they had the first Defence Association meeting on Saturday evening.

“Professor, couldn’t you-”

“No, I couldn’t.” McGonagall answered for Dorea.

“But-”

“She is your teacher and has every right to give you detention. You will go to her office and attend them. Just keep this in mind if you don’t want more of them - tread very carefully around Dolores Umbridge.”

“But surely you know I was telling the truth!” Harry was outraged, his voice almost echoing around the spacious room of the Entrance Hall. 

“For the love of God, Potter!” McGonagall said angrily, “Do you think this is all about who’s telling the truth or who’s lying? It’s all about keeping your head in the game, swallowing your pride, and keeping your temper in check! That goes for you two as well, with your quips!”

It was quiet for a few moments, and all they could hear was everyone at dinner. McGonagall spoke again. “Did either of you actually listen to Dolores Umbridge’s speech yesterday?”

They all nodded. “Well, we only listened to the more important parts with deeper meanings, but we established a general consensus.” Dorea answered.

McGonagall eyed them closely. “Which was?”

“That the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts.” Amelia replied. 

“I’m glad you listen at any rate.” Their Transfiguration teacher said, letting them go back to their dinner.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	11. Detention From Hell & the New Astronomy Teacher

First period on Tuesday the next morning was double Charms. Professor Flitwick, like Professor Babbling, spent the first half of the period explaining what they were going to be covering for OWL Charms and explained the exam information. They would have both a theory paper and a practical exam to undertake, where they could literally be asked anything. Amelia wasn’t feeling overly great - as her, Harry and Dorea had spent the rest of the evening doing Snape’s homework, as they wouldn’t get a chance to before Thursday, when it was due. It was almost one in the morning when they had finally finished it, and that was with Hermione’s supervision. She cursed Umbridge in her head again - why were four detentions necessary? Their first one would be tonight, and they would last until Friday. 

“What you must remember,” Flitwick lectured them, “is that these exams will influence your future job prospects for years to come! Employers will judge you on your grades before even seeing you for an interview. But grades do mean a lot - for example, even though an A - that’s an Acceptable - is considered a pass mark, it is not often desired, as it implies that you’re only just a bit better than a P - Poor.”

Before even starting on fifth year curriculum, Flitwick had the class spend an hour perfecting their Summoning Charms - which were almost guaranteed to come up in the OWL, - before then assigning them three lots of worksheets and an essay to complete for next Tuesday. 

Professor McGonagall was only slightly easier on them. She drilled into their brains that OWL exams required serious practise and study, and that they would only pass their subjects if they put more than enough work in. Then, they started on learning the first of their fifth year Transfiguration spells: Vanishing Spells.

On the whole, Amelia found them quite difficult, as did the rest of the class. She remembered to take into account her stance, wand movement and pronunciation of the incantation, yet the spell still wasn’t executing perfectly. On her fifth attempt, she managed to almost vanish her snail, but you could still partly see it - it was looking like a chameleon, blending with the desk. It took Dorea until the last ten minutes of the double period to vanish hers, and Hermione managed to do it too in the end. Harry looked a bit stressed, as his snail was still very much visible. However, he was taking his time, with deep breaths, and he succeeded right at the end of the period. Ron looked a bit disheartened, but there were plenty of other students who hadn’t managed to vanish their snails. McGonagall proclaimed that the only homework was for those who hadn’t managed to perform a Vanishing Spell to practise before tomorrow’s class.

After lunch, they headed down the sloped lawn towards Hagrid’s hut for Care of Magical Creatures. As they neared it, Harry had half a mind to knock on the door and see if he was in, but he already guessed that answer - he could see no lights on inside.

Professor Grubbly-Plank was waiting for them, and stood at the head of a long trestle table, which was occupied, weirdly, with twigs and sticks on it, and a few green leaves. Harry thought that a bit odd, but he was sure she would soon explain. Behind their group, they heard the arrival of Draco Malfoy and his gang, which today also included Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode. Weirdly, Daphne Greengrass arrived separately from them, and stood a bit away from them with Tracey Davis, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott.

“Everyone here?” Professor Grubbly-Plank asked briskly, and a quick head count showed that everyone was present. “Let’s not waste time, then. Who can tell me what these things are called?”

Hermione’s hand was straight in the air, but Harry had no clue why - for it didn’t look like there were any creatures occupying the table. Malfoy did an impression of Hermione, jumping up and down with his hand in the air, whilst his goons barked laughter.

Everyone was given quite a fright when suddenly, the twigs sprang to life, and were darting around the table. However, some of the shrieks appeared to frighten them, for they turned suddenly shy, and tried to hide away underneath the leaves. “Can we please keep our voices down?” Grubbly-Plank demanded, and the class fell silent. “Miss Granger, can you tell me the names of these creatures?”

“They are Bowtruckles,” Hermione gladly supplied, “they guard trees, and tend to live in wand-wood ones.”

“Five points to Gryffindor.” Grubbly-Plank awarded, “As Miss Granger rightly points out, bowtruckles are tree guardians and you will typically find them residing in trees that have wood of wand quality. Does anybody know what their diet consists of?”

Hermione answered straight away. “Woodlice, primarily.”

“Good girl, another five points to Gryffindor.” Grubbly-Plank smiled. The woman went into more detail about how to lure them with food to placate them, and claimed they could claw someone’s eyeballs out. Harry glanced at Malfoy, who was still whispering and sniggering with his friends.  _ I wish one would do that to him. _

They spent the rest of the period sitting down on the grass, in groups, as their task was to sketch the Bowtruckle and label its body features before the end of class. Dorea volunteered to hold the Bowtruckle first, as the others sketched, and they would change who would hold it every five minutes so they could all get a chance to sketch it. Malfoy’s group sat on a hill just up from them, and he could feel their eyes staring at them. When Professor Grubbly-Plank meandered over to check their group, Harry decided to ask her upfront. “Where’s Hagrid?”

Grubbly-Plank eyed him closely. “It is not my place to disclose that information, Mr Potter.”

“At least tell us if something’s happened to the bloke?” Amelia reasoned.

“Yeah, he’s our friend.” Dorea said.

“Nothing bad has happened to him, do not worry.” Was all Professor Grubbly-Plank told them, before she was about to leave, however, Hermione also asked another question.

“Where’s Professor Sinistra?”

“Professor Sinistra has taken a year off, as she is travelling the world on an Astronomy sabbatical. She sends her best wishes to you all, and will be back for your sixth year.” Professor Grubbly-Plank said quickly, before she went to go and inspect Malfoy’s group.

“Well, I wish I was travelling the world right now,” Ron breathed.

“Oh, it sounds amazing, travelling around, mapping stars and constellations and seeing how they differ from country to country... “ Hermione said dreamily. Harry and Ron smirked at each other. Though Harry quite liked Astronomy, he wasn’t sure if he would enjoy doing star charts and plotting the moon's positions for a whole year, but he internally wished Professor Sinistra good luck.

“So at least it's a bit of comfort that nothing happened to Hagrid,” Dorea said, as they walked to the Herbology greenhouses for sixth and seventh period. Harry felt a bit of dread, as their detention with Umbridge loomed ever closer.

“She still didn’t say what he was doing, though.” Harry added.

“Maybe Dumbledore is the person to ask?” Ron said quietly, as the Hufflepuff’s were joining the line behind them. “He’s on our side, and the leader of the Order, so surely he knows where he is.”

“You have a point,” Harry said, “but I doubt he'd answer if I was the one to ask him.” He added, a bit bitterly. Ron gave him a look of understanding.

Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan shuffled their way into their circle, “Harry, I just want to say that I personally believe you when you say that You-Know-Who is back. My family has always stood behind Dumbledore, and I will back your corner one hundred percent.”

“I never doubted you, Ernie.” Harry was almost stunned. “I kind of guessed when you signed up for the club.”

“Just making sure - I know there’s some idiots who believe the  _ Daily Prophet _ and have been glaring at you, but I just wanted to let you know.” Ernie added.

Justin added his support. “I know I doubted you back in second year,” he said, referring to the heir of Slytherin incident, “but I will never doubt you again. You have my support too.”

Harry felt good now. Hannah, Susan and Megan Jones also said they supported him. Seamus, who Harry didn’t even notice near the back of the line, was looking a bit confused and in disbelief. 

To virtually nobody’s surprise, Sprout started the lesson explaining the Herbology OWL course and the exam information. Though he was still feeling a bit anxious for the detention which awaited him, Amelia and Dorea virtually straight after Herbology, he kept his mind occupied within the class. He only wished he ate a bit more at lunch, as he wasn’t going to have much time to eat dinner before detention…

To add even more homework to their already large pile, Professor Sprout assigned them yet another essay at the end of class, to be completed for Friday.  _ When on earth am I going to get time to complete that?  _ Harry thought, annoyed. He cursed Umbridge in his head for giving them four detentions that week - surely one was enough?

The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw fifth years trooped back up to the castle after their double Herbology class, none of them talking very much due to the fact they all internally agreed it had been a long day. It was only going to get even longer for three of them.

Dorea, Harry and Amelia worked out they had fifteen minutes to eat something before they had to go for their detention, so gobbled their dinner down faster than Ron on a good day. Amelia noticed that Umbridge was at the staff table, and was talking to Snape, who looked like he wanted to end his life. Amelia was only on her third mouthful of apple crumble before her twin and godsister were ushering her to come with them, for it was indeed five minutes until their detention. When she looked back, she realised that Umbridge was no longer there. They left Ron and Hermione, the former complaining to the latter that Trelawney assigned the Divination lot a dream diary they had to complete over the course of a month.

The three of them made their way to the third floor, where Umbridge’s office was located. They didn’t really speak, but they were all wondering what on earth the woman had in store for them. When they came on to the third floor, they all separately cast a Freshening Charm on their robes, for they had been dealing with dragon dung in Herbology and the smell was lingering. 

When they stepped into their Defence teachers office, they were quite horrified, for Umbridge had decked the room out almost totally in pink, and occupying the wall behind her desk were portraits of cats, which all quietly meowed every few seconds. She was sitting at her desk, looking expectant. “Good evening, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, Miss Black.”

Amelia was that transfixed in mortification at the room's decor she almost forgot to respond. “Good evening, Professor.” She answered last.

“Take a seat,” the woman said, pointing towards a circular desk draped in a lace table runner that had a vase of flowers decorated in a doily in the middle of it. There were three seats around it - two facing each other on either side, and one at the edge of the left hand side. They sat down in them, where pieces of parchment and quill were waiting for them.  _ Lines?  _ Amelia almost chuckled,  _ this ain’t so bad, we’ll just write till we fill both sides and that will be us done. _

“You will be doing lines for me,” Professor Umbridge rose slightly, “I want Mr Potter to write, ‘ _ I must not tell lies’,  _ and you girls to write ‘ _ I must not disrespect my superiors’. _ ”

Harry turned in his seat, although Amelia wished he hadn’t. “I want to make it crystal clear that I was not lying, Professor.”

Umbridge let out a shrill laugh. “Oh dear, it seems you do not understand the point of the exercise, Mr Potter. I am doing this in order to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you, and we all need to keep our temper in check.”

Harry was biting back another remark, and with a grunt turned back in his seat to face the parchment. However, as she was about to start writing, Amelia noticed something. “Professor, we have no ink?”

“Oh my dear, I should have said - you three will be using rather special quills of mine. They do not need ink.” Umbridge smiled sweetly at her, but Amelia noticed a twinkle in her eye, which she did not trust one bit. “Now, do your lines. There will be no need to talk. I have work to do, so I would prefer it if questions are left until the end?”

The three of them all shared a look, and grudgingly started their detention task. She picked her quill up, and eyed it with a dark look before she got down to writing.

She soon regretted it - as soon as she wrote the first ‘ _ I must not disrespect my superiors’ _ , it appeared to carve itself into the back of her right hand. Dorea was clutching hers, and Harry looked mortified.  _ Surely this isn’t legal?  _ Amelia thought. Nonetheless, to appease the toad, she carried on to the next line, and again, her hand stung. She had a feeling it was going to do this every time she wrote - just keep carving into her skin. On the fourth line, blood started slowly dripping. 

It was almost midnight before Umbridge stopped them. “That will be all for tonight.”

Amelia wondered how on earth she had the strength to even stand up, and when she did, she saw stars. She had to clutch the table in order to not sit back down again. After a few moments, her vision cleared, and she regained strength.

“Hand your parchments in to me,” Umbridge dutifully held her hand out expectantly.

“You aren’t getting anything with my blood on it.” Dorea said, trying to keep her tone neutral, but she was looking pissed off.

“Miss Black, don’t be silly, you will hand the parchment in, and the sooner you do that, the sooner you can get back to your dormitories.” Umbridge said, smirking.

“Dorea’s right. You aren’t keeping anything with my blood on it.” Harry piped up. Amelia nodded her head too, for it came to her that it was very suspicious that Umbridge wanted to keep something with their DNA in it.

“I do not wish to argue,” Umbridge was still smiling, “but what on earth do you think I’m going to do? Perform a ritual with it?”

“You know that we’ve filled both sides with lines,” Amelia said, “so why do you want to see our work and keep it?”

Umbridge’s smile vanished. “Why, I was hoping the messages would  _ sink in _ , but it appears not. If you do not want detention for everyday next week as well, you will hand me your work!”

Amelia knew they couldn’t risk that, so they all shared a look and gave in to the woman. On one condition. “You will keep those parchments no longer than a week.”

“They will be filed away accordingly anyway, Mr Potter, so I do not understand what the big deal is.” Umbridge proclaimed, before her voice turned sickenly sweet again. “Now, off you go.”

Walking back to Gryffindor Tower, the three of them were simply outraged and hurt. “I can't believe her!” Dorea complained through a hushed voice, as it was after midnight.

“How are we going to cover this up?!” Amelia worried that people would ask questions.

“I made a batch of Burn-Healing Paste back at Black Manor,” Harry said.

“Please tell me you brought your potions caddy bag with you?” Dorea pleaded.

“I did.” he responded.

The common room was empty when they got back. The only light in the room was the fire. Harry went to his dorm to get Burn-Heal Paste for them all, and they prayed it would work. He came down two minutes later, and gave them a squeezy bottle each. “I have a feeling we’ll be needing more over the course of the year.”

They all tested it out, pumping the paste out and rubbing it into their hands, and it worked - it covered the carved writing up. “I hope it works every time,” Dorea said, in a hushed voice.

“We’re really going to have to hold our tongues in her class, whether we like it or not.” Amelia looked at her twin.

He sighed, “I cannot promise I won’t stand up for myself, but I will try.”

Amelia and Dorea tiptoed into their dorm and quietly got changed into pyjamas before getting into bed and almost falling asleep straight away. Despite the fact her hand looked virtually untouched, Amelia could still feel the stinging underneath the Burn Paste. She prayed it held.

Despite the fact she got to bed quite late the night before, Dorea was the first one of the girls up, and wandered down to the Great Hall for breakfast after she got dressed.

Ron was the only one at Gryffindor Table. “You’re up early,” she remarked as she sat down across from him.

“Couldn’t get back to sleep, so I just decided to come down.” Ron smiled as he bit into his toast. “How was detention last night?”

Dorea knew she should really tell the truth, because what Umbridge did to them was horrific and probably breached a few student protection rules. Even though Ron was one of her best friends, she just found that she couldn’t tell him. A part of her really didn’t want to divulge into what actually went on behind closed doors in that office. “Lines.” Was her response.

Ron grinned. “Gosh, I thought she’d have you doing something more tiring than that, eh? Like polishing silver or something.”

Dorea forced a grin and kidded that she enjoyed it, but quickly started eating in case he asked more. The Burn-Healing Paste was still holding up well - she had put a second layer on before she came down in case it wore off during class or something. As they were eating, more people started turning up, and Dorea noticed Cormac McLaggen was grinning at them as he walked past, which she found a tad creepy. “What?” She looked at the sleazy sixth year, and Ron looked up with a puzzled look before he noticed the boy behind him.

“You lot have Astronomy today, do you not?” Cormac didn’t even wait for them to answer before he carried on. “You’re going to like the new teacher, that’s all I’m saying.”

As he walked away, Dorea couldn’t help but have her mouth hang open slightly. What on earth was that supposed to mean, she was going to like the new teacher?

“The new Astronomy teacher doesn’t even sit at the staff table,” Ron said, “they must be shy.”

Dorea stared at (what was) Professor Sinistra’s usual seat at the staff table, wondering what on earth Cormac was meaning. She almost didn’t notice Hermione, Amelia and Harry turning up.

First period on Wednesday morning was Ancient Runes, and that period was spent going over new terminology, question types, and to finish off she gave them a new script to translate, but this time it was to be translated to Runic, when normally they were asked to translate the scripts to English. It would certainly take longer, and nobody had completed it by the end of class, so it was assigned as Homework for next Monday. For second period, Harry had his first private Arithmancy lesson with Vector, whilst Amelia and Dorea had Muggle Studies. Professor Burbage went over the OWL content for the subject, and assigned them an essay at the end of class where they had to talk about different methods of transport Muggles used. The class was so easy that Dorea knew she could leave this essay until the night before it was due.

After morning break was double Herbology, which passed quite quickly, and after it came Transfiguration, where Ron finally managed to perform a decent attempt of a Vanishing Spell. Professor Grubbly-Plank inspected their Bowtruckle drawings and deemed them quite good, but gave them a few pointers about the creature's legs and fingers.

When the bell rang for seventh period, they would finally find out who their teacher was for Astronomy. Amelia, along with Dorea, Harry, Ron and Hermione trudged their way up to the Astronomy Tower for their first lesson with the unannounced new professor.    
"So just who do you think it is? Our new Astronomy teacher?" She asked, desperately.    
"Cormac came swaggering into the Great Hall this morning, all smug, and he grinned at me. It was terrifying. He said that we were going to like whoever it is." Dorea answered, panting slightly as the climb to the classroom always took its toll on people.   
"Whoever it is must've sworn their previous classes not to tell for some reason," Ron reasoned.    
"Well come on, let's not wait any longer and get there quickly. I can't stand the anticipation." Harry groaned, and started climbing the spiral staircase two steps at a time.   
They at long last (and feeling as though they had just climbed Mt Kilimanjaro), arrived at the door to the Astronomy classroom. Without further ado, Amelia turned the door knob and entered.   
Leaning against the teachers desk was none other than her godfather. 

"What the-" Amelia started.   
"-bloody hell" Harry continued.   
"-are you doing here?" Ron and Hermione finished.   
"Dad?  _ You're _ the Astronomy professor? Don't make me laugh." Dorea had entered last, and her face was a picture.   
It took Amelia a moment to realise that all their fellow classmates were in the room, which surprised her as she didn't think they had left it too late to embark to the class. Sirius gave them a grin.   
"Nice to see you too, daughter." Sirius said, faking being hurt, which made the class laugh. "Come give me a hug."   
Dorea gave her father a glare that Snape would be proud of, however Sirius seemed to be immune to it. The others in the class giggled at Dorea's embarrassment.    
"Please don't embarrass me, dad, or I will make your year here a living hell." Dorea grimaced, and gave Amelia a look that screamed for her to go to the empty row near the back. Ron, Hermione and Harry followed suit, still laughing at Dorea.   
"Now that the Fantastic Five have arrived, among them my very stubborn daughter and godchildren, let's get started." Sirius clapped his hands together, and took his wand and waved it at the blackboard, where a very nicely annotated picture and diagram of Pluto, the dwarf planet was displayed. Sirius then explained how it was visible for viewing at that very moment, and said that when they looked through their telescopes it would be clear to the naked eye. He talked some more, but Amelia was more interested in the girls in the class that seemed to be finding Sirius  _ very _ attractive, as most of them were staring at him dreamily, which she had to stifle a laugh at, especially when she saw that Dorea had noticed them.   
"That's my bloody dad that they're eye-boggling!" Dorea whispered angrily to her.   
"The amount of people that are going to be coming up to you saying how handsome he is is going to be so funny to witness. I hope you're prepared." Amelia smirked.   
"I know, and I don't want to think about having to endure that." Dorea said grumpily and then crossed her arms to try and listen to whatever her dad was on about now.   
That lesson turned out to be very entertaining, as Sirius tried with every second to embarrass Dorea (much to the class's amusement). When she was looking through her telescope to locate Pluto, he came up behind her and jabbed her sides to which she let out a very loud yelp and then turned to punch him playfully in the chest and sent him a death glare, which caused Harry and Ron much amusement. When Ernie Macmillan complained that nothing but complete darkness was showing up when he looked through his telescope (which caused him great distress for a minute or two), Sirius came over to them after fixing it and whispered "I charmed it to do that".    
Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were the first few girls to come up to Dorea, and whispered to her "you didn't tell us your dad was so handsome," which caused her to grip her telescope so tightly Amelia feared it might snap. Truth be told, Parvati and Lavender were a bit cringey, as whenever Sirius so much asked them if they were finding Pluto they burst into giggles before saying "mmhmm" for much longer than necessary.   
The lesson finally ended without too much more pranking from Sirius, and he held the five of them back. "How did I do? I must say, your year is quite boring compared to the NEWT students, even the first years were more fun!"   
"Why did you not tell us you were coming to teach? And  _ why _ on earth are you teaching?" Dorea said angrily.    
"Because, my dear, that's the whole definition of a surprise." Sirius replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.   
"Parvati and Lavender wouldn't stop talking about how gorgeous you are, it was so annoying, and all the girls will be coming up to me and saying that for the whole year, damn you!" Dorea continued, and Amelia had a hard time stifling a laugh, lest send her godsister over the edge.   
Sirius just let out a bark of laughter.   
"Oh come here, my girl, give me a hug." He gave her puppy eyes, which to any other woman would make them weak at the knees.   
"Why? I'm annoyed with you." Dorea said simply.   
"Because you're my baby." Even though it was directed at her godsister, it warmed Amelia's heart.   
Dorea obliged then, and her dad embraced her in a bone-crushing hug. Amelia and Harry gave each other the side eye, and knew that they both found it touching.   
"Right, you lot better get down to the Great Hall, dinner will be ready soon, and you’ve got me again for the practical this evening." Sirius all but shooed them out then. Amelia hoped Umbridge wouldn’t keep them until midnight, as that was when their Practical Astronomy lesson started. They would have to ask her to let them off early.   
"Aren't you coming down to sit at the staff table, now it’s revealed that you’re a teacher?" Harry asked.   
"Oh Merlin, so I am. I’ll be down in a few.”   
The five of them entered the Great Hall together and sat in their usual spots at Gryffindor table. Dorea looked in no mood to speak about the fact her father was somehow the new Astronomy professor. Amelia almost couldn’t believe it either - he’d never before expressed his interest in the subject. Sirius entered through the door behind the staff table, and the Hall let out a few cheers. Professor Dumbledore stood up. “Now that it can be revealed, I am glad to announce that our new Astronomy teacher is Mr Sirius Black!”

The Great Hall erupted in cheers as Sirius sat down at the staff table. Amelia still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her godfather was a teacher, but she found it nice that mostly all the students were supportive of him.

Amelia, Harry and Dorea left the hall in order to go to detention with five minutes to go until it was five o’clock. “Right, we’ll go to detention, ask her to let us off early, and do the lines.” Hary rattled off to them.

“You’re going to hold your tongue this time?” Dorea asked.

“Yes.” Harry said.

Their detention was the same as last night - only, their hands were bleeding a bit more freely the more they wrote, and more redness around the carved writing showed. Dorea let out a hissing noise from time to time, as if she was trying desperately not to give Umbridge the satisfaction she was hurting them. Amelia spoke up then. “Professor?”

Umbridge looked up from her desk. “Yes, Miss Potter?”

“We have an evening Astronomy lesson with Siri- Professor Black,” she corrected herself, “so we’ll need to leave at least an hour before midnight, when the class starts, so we can get a quick nap.”

Umbridge looked reluctant. “On this occasion, I will let you go early, as you do have a class, but you will have to make up the lost time on Thursday and Friday.”

“But we’re only missing an hour tonight?” Harry said, “Surely that means tomorrow, we’ll stay until one?”

“I think we can add an hour onto  _ both  _ Thursday and Friday.” Umbridge said sweetly.

“But-”

“-No arguments, please. My word is final.” Umbridge quickly cut in.

_ How on earth are we going to get our homework done?!  _ Amelia raged in her head. They still had to do a Giant Wars essay for Binns, worksheets and a counter-charm for Flitwick, a translation for Babbling, an essay on muggle transport for Burbage, an essay for Sprout, and god knows what else (Amelia couldn’t think right now, they’d been assigned that much). Plus, Professor Vector was likely to assign them work for Arithmancy. She had half a mind to tell Sirius, but she just knew that would only give Umbridge the upper hand and satisfaction.

Umbridge actually let them go at ten minutes to eleven, so they all but threw their parchment at her and strode out the door to get back to Gryffindor Tower, so they could get a nap in before their midnight Astronomy practical. They each took out their Burn-Healing Paste and rubbed another layer on to conceal the new efforts. When they got back to the common room, Hermione and Ron were already asleep at a desk near the fire, but Seamus and Dean were occupying the comfy sofa, and were very much awake. Seamus’s mouth tightened when he saw them come in, whereas Dean nodded at them.

They were the only ones in the common room. Dorea grabbed the armchair for herself, whilst Amelia sat down on the bean bags. Harry just sat down on a bit of carpet near the fire, but soon elected to take the other bean bag. The heat from the fire was soon making them all drowsy, and Amelia found herself drifting off…

When they lined up outside the class, all the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fifth years looked very sleepy, none more so than Ernie Macmillan. “I’ve been studying since six,” she overheard him say to Zacharias, as he was yawning, “... ‘m trying to do eleven hours each day…”

Sirius’s energy soon had them slightly more awake, as he made their practical lesson quite fun. He still did everything in his power to cause Dorea embarrassment (in a good way), and ruffled Amelia and Harry’s hair a few times as well. Their practical was spent looking through their telescopes and finding Jupiter, with its moons. It was quite far in the distance tonight, as their telescopes were on the largest zoom, but it was soon located. Sirius explained the names of the moons - Europa, Io, Ganymede and Callisto were the ones they had to know at OWL level, and he wrote notes for each of them on the board so they could copy it down after they had a good look. At the end of the class, Sirius held her, Harry and Dorea back. “Why did you three leave ten minutes into dinner?”

“Well, we had a detention with Professor Umbridge.” Harry explained for them.

Sirius had to do a double take to make sure he was speaking to Harry and not his father. “But it’s only your third day!”

“The three of us got into a bit of an argument with her on Monday,” Dorea said, “she’s given us detention until Friday.”

Sirius clearly hadn’t been told of this. “Well, don’t be getting into any more of them next week, for I’m sure you already have plenty of homework.” He slightly scolded them, but let them leave.

When they finished their Astronomy lesson at half one in the morning, Amelia found herself falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  
  


Harry had a double period the next morning with Professor Vector, and was looking forward to it. She was very laid back, good at explaining, and always let him take his time whenever she put a question to him. When he got totally stuck, she would let him look up the answer in  _ Numerology and Grammatica,  _ and he would read the answer out. Vector actually approved of this method, as even though it was getting him to read the answer out loud, it would help make it stick in his brain, as he was saying it. They took things slightly slow - after all, over the course of the last three weeks Harry had been cramming two years worth of content into his brain, so it was no wonder he wasn’t automatically remembering some of the information. By the end of the double period, they had managed to get through the same work the Arithmancy class had done yesterday and Tuesday, and she assigned him a homework task to do, but it wasn’t that long or difficult looking.

Double Charms was spent learning the first of the fifth year spells: the Slowing Charm. They spent the first period learning the theory behind the Charm, and the second period was spent practically learning it. They tested it out by throwing certain objects up high, and as they were falling, casting the Charm to slow down its fall. Harry used his parchment notebook, and before it could land on Hannah Abbott’s head, said the incantation “ _ Arresto Momentum!” _

It worked, and Hannah grinned as she gave it back to him, when it softly landed on top of her blonde hair. They gladly weren’t assigned homework, but Flitwick suggested they could still work on it for next week. 

After lunch, they unfortunately had Defence Against the Dark Arts. The period was spent reading (again), in silence (again), and everyone was bored. Harry thought that half an hour had passed, but it had only been ten minutes in. He sighed, irritated, and kept reading. He found himself unable to even concentrate, and kept reading the same line over and over, to no success. 

Double Potions seemed to go by a bit quicker, but perhaps that was because Harry was no longer dreading it. Snape started the lesson by giving them feedback (also known as harsh criticism) about their Draught of Peace potions they brewed on Monday. “Longbottom, you will never get anywhere in life with this mess.” Snape snapped at poor Neville, who flinched. Harry didn’t think the boy’s potion had turned out that bad… He swore to himself that he would help Neville out one day, and possibly invite him over to Black Manor one day to use the Potions Lab.

“Potter, I have reluctantly given yours an O, for there is nothing wrong with it.” Was all Snape said quickly, as if he would catch a disease for giving Harry praise. He said the same to Amelia and Dorea. Hermione got an E, and Ron scraped an A. He couldn’t hear what Dean or Seamus got, but he assumed they passed.

The rest of the period was spent brewing an Invigoration Draught - which Harry again brewed almost perfectly. Snape was getting more and more angry whenever he came over to inspect, for he couldn’t berate Harry, Amelia or Dorea’s. Unfortunately, Snape only targeted Neville even more, snarling over his shoulder and causing Neville to almost drop whatever ingredient he was holding into the cauldron. 

Detention was the exact same as the previous two, however, the carved writing wasn’t for healing up. The burn paste concealed it, but if you looked close enough you could still see it. The three of them were just glad it would hopefully be their last one, and they wished that their hands would heal up within no time. 

When they got back to the common room, Ron was sitting nervously on the couch. “What’s up?” Harry asked as the three of them sat opposite him.

“Q-quidditch tryouts,” Ron muttered, “they’re only three days away now, and.. Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be any good after all.”

“How?” Amelia wondered.

“Well, Fred and George are going to laugh when they see me turn up, kitted out, aren’t they? They still snigger whenever they see me with the Prefect badge.” Ron said, worried.

“You think you’re worried? Try being me, it’s the first session of the Defence club on Saturday!” Harry laughed, trying to make Ron feel better. Harry’s heart raced a bit when he realised that on Saturday night, he would be teaching a ton of fifth to seventh year students that signed up to the club. He wasn’t sure if he would come across totally confident. As they went up to bed, Harry remembered the book he got in Flourish & Blotts - the Quidditch one, which he planned to give to Ron. He couldn’t believe he almost forgot about it. He handed it to his best friend. “It has tons of hints, tips, maneuvers and tactics for Keeper’s in it,” Harry explained quietly, as Seamus, Dean and Neville were assumedly all asleep, “if you read it, you’ll have an advantage over the rest of the prospective Keeper’s.”

Ron nodded, and promised to read it on Saturday, or Friday after class. He took it from him, but then looked down. “Harry, what’s that?”

Harry’s eyes widened when he realised that his hand was bleeding. He must’ve caught it off something.. “Oh, hit my hand by accident earlier.” He tried to play it off.

“No, there’s something glimmering in the light as well!” Ron insisted in a hushed voice. When Harry frantically rubbed the blood away, the Burn-Healing Paste came away, and revealed the writing carved into his hand -  _ ‘I must not tell lies’. _

_ “ _ Mate!” Ron started to rant, “Did that cow do this to you?”

He nodded, for the secret was out now. “How bloody dare she!” Ron kept his voice down, but started pacing the dorm. “She’s evil, and demented! You’ve got to tell somebody about this, Harry!”

Harry shook his head, adamant. “No, I’m not caving in to her wishes.”

Ron sighed. “Well, why don’t you tell McGonagall? Or better yet, Sirius!”

“Ron, the woman tells everything that goes on here to her beloved Minister,” Harry explained, “if Fudge finds out McGonagall or Sirius have reported her, he’ll sack them, I bet.”

Ron nodded, but still looked fierce. “Well, he can’t sack Dumbledore! He knows he’s too powerful! Plus, he’s terrified of the bloke!”

“Dumbledore hasn’t looked my way since my Hearing,” Harry gruffly pointed out.

“Well, I suppose, but… You have to tell someone Harry. You can’t keep hiding it forever. Especially since she’s doing it to Amelia and Dorea too.” Ron reasoned. 

He sighed, knowing his best friend was right. “If she puts us in more detentions I’ll go to McGonagall and have her anonymously report Umbridge.” He bargained. Ron seemed satisfied with that.

Harry went to sleep, feeling ever more nervous as the first session of the Defence Association was looming ever closer, and yet he had no clue how the first session would go.

  
  



	12. First Meeting of the DA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Junior DA starts up, and Umbridge starts her purge.

Harry felt somewhat drained when he woke up on Friday morning, his hand still stinging. He realised that the bleeding had long stopped, and so concluded that hopefully, the Burn Paste would still work, if he kept layering it up.

He had almost finished the whole tube before the carved writing could no longer be seen. “It will have to do,” he said quietly, as he decided to get dressed.

He was quite early going down to breakfast, but he was soon joined by Ron and Hermione. Ron still had the Quidditch book in hand, and was reading it whilst he ate his pork sausages (to the disgust of Hermione). Sirius soon came down via the door behind the staff table, and sat down near Professor Babbling. Harry still couldn’t get over how Sirius was now a teacher - sure, his godfather was very good at it, but why had he not mentioned it? And since when did he have an interest in Astronomy?

He was brought out of his thoughts when Amelia and Dorea came down and sat next to them. The Great Hall was now getting a bit busier. “Do you think we should tell Hermione about your detentions?” Ron whispered from next to him.

Harry shook his head. “No. Not here anyway, she’ll make a scene.” Knowing Hermione, she would probably storm right up to the staff table and challenge Umbridge herself.

Ron sighed a little. “You can’t keep it from her forever. I’m sure she already knows something is up.”

“I’ll tell her when I’m ready,” Harry whispered, as they got up to go to first period, which was double Care of Magical Creatures. Once again, they had Professor Grubbly-Plank, who still had the Bowtruckles, but it would be their last period studying them. They focussed on feeding the Bowtruckles and covering other aspects of their diet.

After morning interval was History of Magic, however Amelia, Dorea and Hermione had Arithmancy - as did a good chunk of the class, due to the fact that they’d already had their double period for History earlier in the week. Besides, they didn’t miss that much, as Binns was again droning on about Giant Wars. Harry tried his best to focus as he jotted down notes from the textbook, but even as he ignored the ghosts sleep-inducing voice, he found himself slowly losing concentration. However, he managed to get through a section with plenty of time remaining. Their Astronomy Theory lesson was again quite fun, as Sirius kept on poking fun at Dorea. Half the female members of the class were trying their hardest to mask their fancy for his godfather, but Harry secretly found it hilarious.

Lunch was a quick affair, and after it they had Herbology. Every once in a while he noticed that two boys in Slytherin were looking over at him - Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, who he’d never really spoken to before. He knew that Theo’s dad was a Death Eater, but the boy was weirdly staying a bit silent whenever Draco whispered something to Crabbe and Goyle that were definitely aimed at him. He was half-tempted to ask Daphne who all had signed up from Slytherin, as he wondered if the two boys had…

They unfortunately had Defence after Herbology, and Harry was reminded that tonight was their last detention with Umbridge. He vowed to himself that he would definitely try and hold his tongue, else he would risk getting in more, and as of next week he really couldn’t afford to get more detentions, what with Quidditch practise starting up, the Junior Defence Association group also starting on Monday, homework… He was struggling enough as it is.

They were once again reading through the textbook that Umbridge had assigned, which was almost as boring as a lesson with Cuthbert Binns and as interesting as a Flobberworm. He was almost falling asleep, and could no longer focus on a single sentence, so elected to stare down at the desk. Every once in a while he could feel Professor Umbridge’s eyes stare in their vicinity, but he kept his cool. As they were leaving for the last period of the week - which was thankfully Ancient Runes, Umbridge said to them as they were leaving, “I’ll see you three at five.”

Runes was a more active affair, as the class wasn’t boring. They finished off the translation that was assigned as homework, as Babbling understood they had been assigned lots, so they just finished it to lessen their workload, which the class was thankful for. They took their time going over the translation, as Babbling explained the new runes they had come across in it. At the end of the period, they had a page full of new notes, and thankfully one less homework task to do.

Their first week of classes over and done with, they walked to the Great Hall for dinner. They’d finished Runes slightly earlier than normal, so Amelia, Harry and Dorea had a bit more time to eat their food before detention.

It wasn’t long before they had to part from their steak and kidney pie to head up to the third floor for hopefully the last time that week.

“I’ve had to watch my hand constantly,” Amelia declared, “it keeps breaking out and bleeding a bit every so often.”

“Yeah, same here, my hand bleeds every time I slightly strain it.” Dorea grumbled.

“Ron found out about my hand,” Harry said,

“What?!” Amelia said, as she looked shocked at her brother, “I thought we weren’t telling anybody about this?”

“I didn’t even realise it was bleeding,” Harry declared, “he spotted it, and when I tried to rub it away, the burn paste also came away. But I think he’ll keep it quiet.”

Amelia groaned, as she knew it was kind of inevitable that people would start finding out about their detentions. It was hard enough convincing Hermione that they did nothing but lines.

They entered Umbridge’s dreaded office, and took their seats at the round table, where their parchment and quills were waiting for them. “I’m sure you know your task well enough by now,” Umbridge said sweetly, “so I’ll let you three get on with it.”

When the ghastly woman stopped them at midnight, the three of them silently agreed that they were glad that was now all over and done with. They would be having no more detentions, and more importantly, no longer under the stress of those damn quills that drank their blood up.  _ God knows how bloody deep the message has gone into the skin,  _ Amelia wondered, as she stood up slowly.

Blood was running a little too freely from all of their hands. Amelia was startled when she looked to Dorea, for her godsister was still sitting, but was furiously wiping her face of tears. Harry too looked drained, but he was trying to stay strong.

Umbridge had noticed Dorea’s silent tears, “Oh dear, it’s okay, it’s all done with now.” To somebody that didn’t know her, you would have thought that Umbridge was sounding very caring.

“It stings so much now…” Dorea had stopped crying, but was clearly gritting her teeth. In truth, Amelia’s was stinging like a bitch too - it was like stomach cramps, but in her hand.

Professor Umbridge just sat staring as Harry and Amelia helped Dorea to her feet. Dorea handed the woman the parchment. As Harry and Amelia turned towards the door to leave the room for the last time, they heard a rather loud thump.

They were shocked as they whipped back around, for Umbridge had Dorea up against the wall and had grabbed her by both shoulders. “Get off me-”

“-You’re  _ pathetic,”  _ Umbridge growled, shaking Dorea by the shoulders “you’re a disgrace to the House of Black, and you’re not worthy of the name. Your mother and her family deserved to die like the pigs they were-”

Amelia charged straight at the woman, as did Harry. However, the woman pointed her wand at them, and they suddenly felt themselves fall backwards and onto the carpet floor. Amelia didn’t even care at the small wave of pain that coursed through her - Dorea was being manhandled by that woman, and verbally abused.

When the twins got back to their feet, Umbridge was no longer restraining Dorea, - the girl was now being shoved out of the room. Amelia wished she brought her wand - for now was a perfect time to get the woman restrained and reported.

Umbridge stalked towards them and shoved them out the room as well. When they turned back to challenge her, the woman said “Not a single word to anybody, or you’ll be getting detention for the rest of term.” before slamming the door shut.

Dorea wasn’t crying, but she looked very shaken. All three of them were, in fact. Umbridge was a teacher, a person entrusted to the care of students, yet she had just proven how much she liked abusing that position with the backing of the Ministry. Amelia was rambling in her head all sorts of choice words for that despicable woman.  _ This has to end,  _ she thought,  _ before she gets another chance to hurt somebody else. _

They were that furious they forgot about their hands, which were still bleeding like mad. There was no point putting the burn paste on just now, as it would just mix with the flowing blood and not cover it up. “We need bandages of some sort,” Harry commented, as they descended the stairs.

“Where do we get them?” Dorea asked, sniffling a bit.

“I might have plasters that could stop the bleeding…” Amelia offered.

Saying the password to the Fat Lady, they stepped into the common room. They froze a bit when they realised that Hermione was sitting on the couch waiting for them.

“I know fine well you don’t just do lines,” said Hermione, “she has you writing with a quill that writes with your blood and carves the message into your hand.”

They meekly nodded. “That’s why you always look so drained,” Hermione added. “I did some reading - she has you write with something called a Blood Quill, which is practically illegal to use on underage witches and wizards without their parents or guardians being present. It’s only used at places like the Ministry and Gringotts to sign important documents.”

“Oh..” Was all Harry could say to that.

“So that is why this,” Hermione gestured to their bleeding right hands, “needs to be reported as soon as possible.”

“Oh, Hermione-”

“ _ No,  _ I don’t care, she is abusing and torturing you three using that quill continuously!” Hermione was adamant. “God knows how long it will take your skin to heal!”

“Fudge will silence any criticism against her, and you know it,” Amelia cut in quickly, “and we cannot risk getting someone like McGonagall, Flitwick or Sirius sacked. We can’t even risk telling Dumbledore.”

“Then  _ who  _ do we tell?” Hermione crossed her arms.

“Leave that to us,” Harry decided, “she’s doing it to us, so we should report it to someone.”

“And when will that be?”

“We could do it anonymously.” Harry suggested, “but we’ll tell McGonagall privately so she knows it's from us.”

Hermione nodded, but didn’t look too convinced. “I have a feeling this won’t be getting reported until a few weeks from now.”

“No, we will do it,” Harry said, “we just need time. And we need our bed, it's after midnight and I’ve got the Defence club tomorrow evening which I  _ still  _ need to plan for. Goodnight.”

With that, Harry walked up the stairs to the boys dormitory. Hermione stayed with them and they walked up to the girls dorm together.

“Does she do anything else to you?” Hermione asked in a sympathetic tone as they quietly slipped into the dormitory, for Lavender and Parvati were seemingly sound asleep.

“We’ll talk about it another time,” Dorea whispered, as they got changed for bed.

Amelia didn’t get to sleep until after one, as that was when the cramp in her hand started to die down. She put two plasters on the carved writing and hoped it stopped the bleeding overnight, so she could apply a burn paste in the morning to conceal it. 

She went to bed that night dreaming about Umbridge getting sacked publicly, and being led away from Hogwarts crying, whilst the whole Hogwarts population cheered wildly.

Harry was thankful that it was now the weekend, but he had tonnes of work to catch up on. He had a vague idea what he was going to do for the first DA lesson, now only a few hours away, but first he had to tackle the homework that the Gryffindor fifth years had to do.

After breakfast, the five of them spent their time in the common room working through various homework tasks. It seemed both the fifth, sixth and seventh years were bombarded with work, as even Fred and George were working through homework with Lee Jordan (a rare sight). Harry decided to get Binns' essay on Giant Wars out of the way, so spent the best part of an hour working through that with Ron. Amelia, Dorea and Hermione were working through Arithmancy together, and Harry realised that he had homework for Vector as well. He would ask them about it later.

Giant Wars essay done, he passed it to Ron so he could copy it and started on Flitwick’s mountain of Charms work. That took the better part of an hour, and he wasn’t that confident it was 100% right, but he shrugged that off and started on the Herbology essay. They finished that just before lunch.

At lunch, they had just sat down and started eating when McGonagall strode towards their table. Thankfully, she didn’t order them out of the hall, but she had parchment paper in her hands. “Potter, I have initial numbers for both the Junior and Senior groups for your club, and their names,”

“Oh, thank you,” Harry gladly took the papers, eager to find out who had signed up.

He started looking at the Senior group sign-ups, with Ron, Hermione, Amelia and Dorea hovering over his shoulders trying to see who all had added their name. Harry went straight to the Slytherin sheet, and was pleasantly surprised with the initial numbers.

Of the Senior group, Daphne Greengrass’s name was one of the first, like she said, but he was glad to see the names “Blaise Zabini” and “Theodore Nott” staring back at him. He glanced over at the Slytherin table, and the two boys were there, but they seemed engrossed in their own food and conversation. He also seen the name “Tracey Davis”, and was pleasantly surprised to see Astoria Greengrass’s name in the Junior group, as well as Barnaby Lee, who was apparently a very strong dueller.

“Christ, I don’t envy you, having to learn all their names,” Ron said, as he got a hold of the Hufflepuff sheet, where there were quite a lot of names, and it turned out that Zacharias Smith had signed up. Harry wondered if he was going to be a tricky customer.

He was that engrossed in looking for names that he recognised that he almost forgot about his pea soup. He had to gulp it down as lunch was almost over, and took his scone with him as they went back up to Gryffindor Tower for another few hours of homework.

When he stepped in, he was met immediately by Fred and George. “Mate, you know how you said that you’d be interested in hearing about our new developments and products?” George said quietly, as Hermione was in the vicinity.

“Yeah?” Harry said expectantly, smiling.

“Well, come and have a look at what we’ve planned.” Fred steered him over to the corner, where Lee Jordan was also seated.

“Good luck for the club’s first session tonight, Harry.” Lee said as he handed him a sheet of paper.

“Cheers Lee,” Harry tried to sound confident, but his heart rate rose a bit every time he thought about having to teach tonnes of people. He took the paper into his hands and read the writing.

“Okay, so you’ve got the Skiving Snackboxes, and the Puking Pastilles?” Harry summarised quietly.

“The Snackboxes are nearly done, we just need to secretly get some testers,” Fred said, referring to the fact that Hermione stopped them testing the sweets on first years earlier in the week, “and we’ve improved the Pastilles so that they last a bit longer.”

“How’s the premises hunting coming along?” Harry asked. He had given the twins his Triwizard winning at the end of fourth year, which they were hoping to use to buy premises for their shop.

“Now that we’re at school, a lot slower.” George added. “We’ve put an advert in the  _ Daily Prophet,  _ which we know mum doesn’t read anymore since they started their smear campaign against you, so we won’t get caught.”

“Have you planned for when she does inevitably find out?” Harry smirked, but immediately felt a bit horrible - what if he indirectly caused a Percy-like estrangement when Mrs Weasley found out he was helping her son's fund a career she thought quite unsuitable? What if Fred and George got kicked out because of it?

“We don’t plan to actually go into business until after seventh year anyway,” Fred commented, “so we practically have a year to prepare.”

Harry nodded, and heard their suggestions for new products which were in the pipeline. He quite liked having a say in their business, if he said so himself. He left them with a farewell so he could get back to his homework. Hermione didn’t look too pleased.

Now that they didn’t have a translation to finish for Babbling, Harry got to work on the Arithmancy homework whilst Ron decided to do his dream diary for Divination. Hermione gave him some hints and tips, whilst Amelia and Dorea just wanted him to copy theirs, but Hermione insisted he do it for himself. It took until two o’clock to finish off, but when he found himself done homework-wise, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Dinner time was upon them quicker than he wanted, and found that he almost couldn’t eat, for at seven, the first DA session would commence in the Transfiguration classroom, which he hoped was big enough to accommodate for the Senior group. “Nervous?” Ron said knowingly from across the table.

“Just a bit,” Harry chuckled. “I barely bloody know half the people that signed up, and the ones whose names I recognise I only know to see them!”

“You’ll be fine,” Ron brushed off his concern, “if you get through tonight, then I can get through Keeper tryouts.”

He noticed that a lot of eyes were on him still, and he had no clue if they were poking fun at him or not. He caught eyes with Daphne, who gave him a small reassuring smile, and Ernie turned in his seat to pat him on the shoulders as he got up to leave. 

At half past six, he went to the Transfiguration class early to set up. When he got there, Flitwick had just arrived. “Ah, Mr Potter, you’re here.” The Charms teacher chirped kindly.

“I thought to get here early to set up,” he said as he stepped inside, “for I don’t plan on using the desks.”

“Not to worry, I’ll get them out the way for you,” Flitwick pulled out his wand, “ _ Locomotor desks!” _

In an instant, the desks all started floating in the air, and Flitwick waved his wand in the direction of the door to guide them outside the class. He then went to stack them up, and soon came in to do the same with the chairs. Soon enough, the Transfiguration classroom was practically bare, with only the blackboard and McGonagall’s desk remaining. It felt far more cavernous than it had before. Harry went to perch himself upon the desk, for his legs were feeling like jelly. 

“I can tell this will be a bit nerve-wracking for you, Mr Potter,” Flitwick noticed.

“Well, I know a good chunk of those attending, but the ones I don’t know are all strangers, and in the years above me.” He got that off his chest.

“You’re well within your rights to feel that way,” Flitwick emphasised, “even I get nerves every once in a while when I’m teaching a new group of students. It’s natural to feel a bit intimidated by them, especially the sixth and seventh years.”

Harry nodded, understanding. He then remembered his plan. “I brought with me a list of spells that I plan to teach them.”

Flitwick took the piece of paper and cast his eyes over it. “Which spell are you planning to start with in today’s session?”

“I was thinking today, we could start with basics - perhaps the Disarming Charm? I know it will probably sound really simple, but I plan to get them to partner off with somebody they’ve never worked with before, to start building the unity early. It will probably take a few sessions, and conflict will probably arise, but it’s just a thought.” He explained.

Flitwick looked very impressed. “It’s a brilliant plan for the first session!”

With ten minutes to go until seven, people started arriving. Hermione, Ron, Amelia and Dorea all came in early, and gave him reassuring thumbs up as they stood near the front. Fred, George and Lee came in next, soon followed by Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. Neville and Dean arrived together as well, but Harry felt a bit deflated when Seamus wasn’t with them.  _ Who am I kidding, he still can’t bare to look at me,  _ he thought, brushing it away. Parvati came in, and Harry expected her to be alone, but somehow Lavender was with her. Harry had heard from Hermione that Lavender thought him to be a liar and a fool.  _ Maybe she’s come around.. _

Ernie and the fifth year Hufflepuff’s turned up, with a reluctant looking Zacharias Smith.  _ Why on earth did he even sign up if he doesn’t want to do it?  _ He wondered. Anthony Goldstein arrived with Terry, Padma, and a few others he didn’t really recognise. His heart danced a bit when Cho arrived with her friend Marietta. 

The pale blonde hair of Daphne soon came through the door, with Tracey Davis and a few other Slytherin’s, none more so than Blaise and Theo. He nodded at them in welcome, but was a bit taken aback when they only looked at him and went to stand near the back. More sixth and seventh year students turned up, but they were all just faces to him - he really needed to learn their names.

At seven on the dot, did the last few students enter. The room stopped chattering as Harry went to stand up.  _ Sound confident, Potter,  _ his mind screamed at him,  _ they’ll laugh at you if you keep stuttering and sound unprepared! _

Taking a deep gulp, he started speaking. “Hello everyone,” he was met with a few hello’s and nodding of heads. “Welcome to the first session of the Defence Association. As you know, my name is Harry Potter, and the aim of this club is not only to teach you potentially life-saving offensive and defensive spells, but to also make new friendships with people you never expected to even interact with.”

He was met with encouraging smiles and looks of interest as he continued. “I am very pleased that a good chunk of Slytherin students took the initiative to sign up - for I know with that House in particular, I hope you don’t mind me saying, there are certain individuals that hold some stereotypes towards other houses.” Daphne and Tracey shared a look of agreement, but Blaise and Theo, and a few of the other Slytherin’s, just stared at him nonplussed.

“Before we get started, does anyone have any questions?” He asked, and was met with a bit of silence, but soon Zacharias Smith spoke up.

“I’m not so sure I want to work with those  _ snakes  _ after all,” was the boy’s comment.

Immediately, people rounded on the Hufflepuff boy. Some Slytherin sixth and seventh years went up to Zacharias and started sneering in his face, whilst members of the other houses went to put themselves between them.

“Settle down!” Harry tried to be the voice of authority, but barely anybody listened to him.

Flitwick soon waved his wand and put some distance between Zacharias and the people ganging up on him. Harry nodded a thanks at his Charms teacher as the room settled down again.

“If anyone else in this room does not wish to work with people just because of their House, they are free to leave,” he said in a slightly annoyed tone. It wasn’t the best of starts, but he plugged on. “I actually have a little exercise I want us to do before we start using magic and working with each other. Dean,” he called out to his fellow Gryffindor, who looked slightly alarmed, “be honest, what is your opinion of Blaise?”

Dean glanced across the room at Blaise Zabini, who looked a bit confused as to why he’d been picked. “I only know him from a few classes, but from what I’ve observed… He seems to keep himself to himself, and elsewise keeps to his own friends. I’d say he’s quietly smart as well.” Dean answered, a bit unsure, but Blaise only graced him with a slight incline of the head.

“Seems like a Ravenclaw trait, yeah?” Harry said, and Blaise looked a bit affronted, but he quickly moved on, “Daphne, what’s your opinion of Amelia?”

Daphne Greengrass gladly spoke up at once, “we don’t know each other that well, but I can tell she’s very kind, loyal to both friends and family, and defends them at every opportunity.”

Amelia grinned at Daphne. Harry made a quick connection, “That to me sounds like a Hufflepuff trait,” he paused, as more people in the room seemed to understand the point of this exercise. “Megan, what’s your opinion of Tracey?”

Megan Jones racked her brain as she looked over at Tracey Davis, “I’m aware that she’s quite daring with her career hopes and studies, and also seems very determined to pass her OWLs this year to progress on to her NEWTs.”

“Ah, I can tell she represents a bit of Gryffindor.” Harry said, and Tracey nodded with a smile. Lastly, he turned to Terry. “Terry, what’s your opinion of Zacharias?”

Terry Boot straightened up, and looked towards the Hufflepuff boy, who still held a bit of a scowl from his earlier scuffle. “He just demonstrated a few minutes ago that he has self-preservation, but I also think he holds his own kind of ambition and cunning.”

“Ironically, they are Slytherin traits,” Harry said, and then went on to conclude the exercise, “we all just observed our peers, and noted their qualities that we’ve picked up on over the years here. What has just been proven is that we share something in common with at least one other Hogwarts house that isn’t our own - which says something, doesn’t it? We all have our own opinions on Gryffindor’s, Slytherin’s, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw’s, and for some of us our opinions on other houses may be ones that are lowly and hateful, despite the fact we share traits in common with either of the other houses. What I am trying to say here is this - we may be all our own people, mostly represented by our sorted Houses, but we all hold other qualities which we may choose not to acknowledge. It’s what makes us somewhat the same, but likewise on different tangents. I don’t want to ramble on into a long-winded speech, but it is important that we all understand something about the Hogwarts houses. Not all Slytherin’s for example are nasty - I do not see why ambition or resourcefulness are bad things. We need to be resourceful every day of our lives, whether it's at school or home, and ambition is needed to progress on to future jobs and what not. Bravery and courage aren’t meek things to have either, for I’m sure we’ve all had moments in our lives where we’ve had to be brave and face our fears. Likewise with wit and learning, Ravenclaw traits, we all study at some point in our lives to better our intellect, and as for Hufflepuff - we all have friends, yeah? We’re always kind to our friends, and fight their corner when they’re in a sticky situation.” Harry paused, as most of the room were giving him thoughtful looks, “When I look out and see you all together in this room, I do not see good or bad House, pure-blood, half-blood or muggleborn, I just see Hogwarts students, and I know that you all would have joined this club for different reasons, but I just hope that this proves an opportunity to come together and realise that we’re much better together than divided.”

He finally finished speaking, and it seemed he didn’t lose anybody, for half the room clapped, and the other half were varying degrees of impressed. Harry felt his face flush slightly. When the clapping finished, he clapped his own hands together and spoke. “Well, I think that’s enough talking for one evening. Let’s get started on actually learning some magic, yeah?” He paused, “I want us to pair off and practise the Disarming Charm on each other - I know it seems simple, but it’s a good spell to start with. But before we pair off, I want us to partner up with somebody who we may never have worked with before. It can be anyone in the room, from any house.”

Some people looked a bit reluctant or shy to do that, but some did the task right away. Amelia paired up with Megan Jones, whilst Dorea went with Susan Bones. Ron decided to pair up with Ernie, whilst Hermione interestingly paired up with a Ravenclaw fifth year who Harry recognised as Sue Li, who did Ancient Runes and was also apparently in the Arithmancy class. Neville looked a bit lonely, but Anthony Goldstein soon offered to be his partner. Near the back of the class, Blaise Zabini looked like he would rather die than pair up with a stranger, but soon made a beeline for Terry, whilst Theodore Nott paired up with Dean, which was fascinating as Dean was a muggleborn, whilst Theo’s father was a Death Eater..

Interestingly, nobody really paired up with anyone outside of their year group. Harry wondered if that was something psychologically ingrained. He soon made his way around the room to see how everyone was getting on. Flitwick accompanied him on the rounds as well, and gave tips regarding stances, incantations and wand movements. Soon, the room was filled with the word “ _ Expelliarmus!”  _ and occasionally the sound of wands clattering on the floor. Some had more success than others. The sixth and seventh years were getting it no bother, he noticed, but that was probably due to their years of experience.

After ten to fifteen minutes of the exercise, he found he was quite enjoying seeing people progress and develop. Neville had managed to disarm Anthony  _ three  _ times, which was an improvement from his efforts in Charms class. “The only thing Longbottom lacks is confidence,” Professor Flitwick said to him quietly as they found themselves back at the front of the room, electing to just observe the class.

“I can already tell he’s going to improve leaps and bounds from this club,” Harry noted, and Flitwick agreed. Harry also noticed that friendships were already starting to form - for Daphne was chatting very easily with her partner, Padma Patil. Hermione and Sue were also talking to each other as they worked. Lavender looked quite comfortable with Tracey as well, although she was only thinly smiling.

At half past eight, Harry concluded the first session of the Club. He was rather surprised that most people were actually hoping it would last a bit longer, but nonetheless everybody disembarked the class. Most of them waved him goodbye and commented how much they enjoyed it as they left. Before they all left, he reminded them that the next session would be held at the same time, same place next week. Hermione, Ron, Amelia and Dorea stayed behind to wait for him. 

“What did you think, Professor?” Harry asked Flitwick.

“I honestly don’t think you’ll need my intervention at all for future sessions, Mr Potter!” the Charms teacher said with a grin, “You handled that superbly, considering you were teaching almost seventy people. You should give yourself a massive pat on the back.”

“You're joking!” Harry gaped at him in surprise.

“He’s right you know,” Ron praised from next to him, “that first exercise you had us do really put a perspective on things, and made me realise.”

“I can’t wait for next week’s session now!” Dorea looked elated.

Harry grinned as he walked up to Gryffindor Tower with his friends. When they got back, the common room erupted in cheers, and he mockingly bowed to their praise, which made them all chuckle. It was only nine at night, so they elected to stay up a little while longer, but not too late, as Ron wanted to get a good night's sleep for the Keeper tryouts tomorrow at ten. As they sat on the couch, Ron soon pulled out the Quidditch book Harry had got him, which he’d been reading since yesterday. Hermione looked aghast. “I’ve never seen him read so much.” She said.

The next morning at breakfast, the five of them were among the first people down in the Great Hall. Harry thought Ron must’ve slept with the quidditch book by his side, as it was still in his hands as he ate. He was sure Hermione was about to make a remark, but Sirius came striding into the Hall and grinned at them. “How did the Club go last night? I had an evening class with the third years, so I haven’t heard.”

“I received some brilliant feedback, it was really good for the first session, and an eye-opener for some as well. I just hope the Junior group goes as well on Monday night.” Harry explained as he swallowed his hash brown.

Sirius looked elated. “Oh, fantastic! I just knew it would be a big hit! You’ll have to let me come to one of the sessions and spectate one day.”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, maybe one day, when everything’s settled.”

With that, Sirius went up to the staff table, but not before hugging Dorea and Amelia and telling Ron good luck for the tryouts. Ginny soon came down and sat with them, as did Fred and George - the former almost gave Dorea a kiss on the head before he realised Sirius was in the room. 

At nine fifty, they went down to the Quidditch pitch, and Hermione left them to sit in the stands as they got changed. Ron took his new Cleansweep out of its case as if it was made of glass, and almost dropped it when Angelina came in. “Right, are most of us here? We’re just waiting on the other hopeful Keeper’s to arrive, and then we can get started.”

The whole Gryffindor Quidditch team was soon in the changing room, as well as the Reserve’s, as Angelina wanted to see how the hopeful Keeper’s fit into the team dynamic - and that meant the  _ whole  _ team. 

There were six people trying out to be Keeper, and one of them - a sixth year boy, Adam, was almost late, which wasn’t a good start. However, they soon took to the air and got started. “Right, each prospective Keeper will be involved in a ten minute game to test their skills. Vicky, you’re up first.” Angelina said, and pointed to the only girl among the people trying out.

“We’ll play a game of official team versus the Reserves,” Angelina also said, “Reserves, shove a yellow bib on so we can distinguish who’s on what team. When Hooch blows the whistle, we’ll start.”

Harry looked over at Ron, who was hovering near the other hopefuls at the side. He gave him one last nod of good luck before Hooch blew the whistle. 

After the ten minutes was up, Harry felt a bit nervy, as the girl Vicky managed to save quite a lot of the goals, and he could tell Ron was nervous still. He just hoped luck was on his friend's side today…

The boy Adam wasn’t bad, but missed quite a lot of goals that would have been easy saves, and wasn’t the quickest at moving between hoops. The next two hopefuls, called Derek and Michael, were a bit poor, and the other boy Ross, a seventh year, was more strength than speed, so only managed to save a few goals. 

Last to go was Ron. As he flew up to the goal posts, Harry heard him complain. “Oh Harry, this was a waste of time, I’m going to be more crap than Ross…”

Hooch blew the whistle, and Harry found himself having to take off. “Just remember what the book told you, Ron, you’ll be fine.”

Harry, as he flew around trying to find the Snitch with Amelia hot on his heels, managed to see Ron in action. He pulled off a spectacular quick reverse to stop the quaffle going into the left hoop at the last minute, and even managed to beat the quaffle away with his own hand at one point. When the ball did go in, he could tell Ron was losing heart, but when the ten minutes was up, he’d only managed to miss about four saves.

Angelina concluded the tryout, and instructed the team to meet her in the changing room for a meeting, to decide who the new Keeper was going to be. “Right, speak to me,” their captain said, wanting the team's opinions, “what did we make of Vicky?”

“She was good,” Alicia noted, and everybody nodded agreement, “but I’ve heard her comment that if quidditch clashes with her Charms Club, she would choose Charms Club instead.”

Angelina didn’t look too pleased. “So she wouldn’t be willing to prioritise her team. Not a good sign. What about Adam?”

“He missed a few easy saves,” Harry spoke up, and Angelina nodded at his predicament, “however, he wasn’t that bad overall.”

“He lacks quick reflexes and thinking, though.” One of the Reserve Beaters added. Harry thought his name was Bole, but couldn’t be sure.

“I think we can rule out Derek and Michael,” Angelina said, and everyone immediately nodded their heads. “Ross couldn’t defend the hoops quick enough. Still, I wouldn’t mind having his strength as a future Beater though…”

“That brings us to Ronnikins,” George said, and they laughed.

“I’m not just saying this because he’s my friend, but he was probably the best of the bunch.” Amelia voiced her opinion.

“Yeah, he’s been reading a quidditch book the last few days to prepare himself for this. His only weakness is that he’s prone to nerves.” Harry said in agreement with his twin.

“That settles it then,” Angelina clapped her hands together, and looked happy, “another Weasley on the team!”

Fred and George looked happy, as did Ginny, in fact everyone else looked relieved. They all exited the changing rooms and went back on to the pitch, where the Keeper hopefuls were. “We can happily announce that the new Gryffindor Keeper is… Ron Weasley!” Angelina announced, and Ron looked genuinely shocked. Hermione came running down from the stands and added her congratulations to the others. Slightly windswept, they made their way back up to the castle.

“I thought for sure that Vicky girl was going to get it instead of me!” Ron sounded aghast. 

“You were brilliant, Ron,” Hermione said, smiling.

“I didn’t  _ feel _ brilliant, I just did what I felt was right. Could have kicked myself when I let that last one go in… Oh, mum and dad will be thrilled, I bet.”

When they were celebrating in the common room, Angelina came up to him. “Hey, Harry, I don’t think I ever said how enjoyable your club was last night. It’s stressful, managing a quidditch team and what not. But listen - I think Ron needs a bit more work before he’s up to my desired standard.”

Harry nodded, understanding, and even though Ron made the team, his tryout wasn’t the most fabulous. “Even though you gave him that book, which probably did help him, I think he needs a bit more encouragement practically. Do me a favour, and help him as much as you can, okay? I know your schedule is quite tight, but do make time for him, even if it's just an hour a week or something. Also, next Quidditch practise will be on Wednesday at seven, please make sure you don’t get more detentions.” Angelina continued, as she looked at Ron over the rim of her glass.

Harry vowed to himself silently that he would help his best friend at quidditch, no matter what it took, and to make him less nervous. Who knows, with a proper crowd watching, what if Ron completely fell apart? What if he let in every single goal every match and they ended up last in the Quidditch Cup? Harry didn’t want his friend to face that level of humiliation.

“Okay, I will.” Harry agreed, taking a swig of his butterbeer. “I’ll see you on Wednesday at practise.”

  
  



	13. A Mysterious Saturday Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: More friendships are made, and Umbridge starts her dictatorship of the school by introducing the first of her Educational Decree's.

Dorea was the first one awake in the girls dormitory on Monday morning, which she disliked quite a bit, as she normally slept in a bit longer. She stared for a while at the tiny particles of dust she could see floating about in the morning sunlight, before she quietly got dressed and sorted her work out.

Checking her timetable, she had double History, Double Potions, Ancient Runes, and double Defence, which she was dreading, especially since Umbridge had physically restrained her and basically said how much of a failure she was. The woman now haunted her dreams because of it. However, this week was already looking to be better than the last, as she would have no detentions, not if she could help it. Her hand was slightly beginning to heal up, and it cramped less now.

At breakfast, she came down and realised that Harry was already in the Great Hall, and was sitting not at Gryffindor table, but Ravenclaw. He was talking to Luna Lovegood, the girl they’d met on the train.

She sat down with them. “Gosh, are we even allowed to sit at other house’s tables?” Dorea wondered as she nodded hello at the fourth year Ravenclaw.

“I don’t even care if we’re not - if people from all house’s can join my club, then surely I can sit and talk to them.” Harry said. Luna was reading a magazine upside down.

“How have your classes been, Luna?” Dorea asked politely.

“Not so bad, though Tuesdays are the worst. Today I’ve got Transfiguration, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, double Herbology, and Charms.” Luna said, stowing her magazine away. The girl looked at Dorea. “Your father is a good teacher by the way. Though a lot of the girls seem to fancy him.”

Harry smirked, whilst Dorea forced a smile. “Oh, yeah, he’s brilliant.”

More people started arriving gradually. Dorea noticed plenty of people were staring at her and Harry for not sitting at their own table, but she couldn’t tell if they were impressed or not. Anthony Goldstein soon came down, and was amazed at them. “Breaking house boundaries, I like it.”

They grinned. “House unity and all that.” Harry replied, laughing.

“Feel free to sit with me and the others at any time,” Anthony said, as he sat down further down the table. They both nodded at him. 

They were talking to Luna about the Junior DA group, which was starting up tonight, when they heard a “ _ Hem-hem,”  _ from behind them.

Dorea felt herself fill with dread as her and Harry turned around. It was Professor Umbridge. “I do not think this is your house table, Potter, Black.”

“It’s hardly illegal to mix and mingle with other people, Professor.” Harry said, a bit bitterly.

“You will return to Gryffindor table this instant, or we will have another week of seeing each other for detention.” Umbridge instructed in her stupid sickly-sweet voice. Harry and Dorea shared a look, and admitted defeat. They said a quick farewell to Luna before they grabbed their plate and bags and took their seats at Gryffindor table. Hermione, Ron and Amelia were there.

“Who does she think she is?” Ron said, as he glared at the woman's back.

“She’s just actively discouraged inter-house cooperation!” Hermione was mouthing the woman off.

Over at Slytherin table, Malfoy and his gang were guffawing amongst themselves, and were very clearly on Umbridge’s side. They elected to just ignore them.

“Harry, we were actually thinking about something,” Hermione spoke up, “since you’ll be leading the Junior group of the club tonight, will you be needing any help with it?”

Harry had a think. “There’s quite a lot of them, and they’re a bit younger so therefore prone to make more mistakes, so yeah, I think I’ll need a little help from my friends.”

Dorea soon asked if she could join them as well, which he nodded at straight away. Harry felt a bit relieved, as he didn’t quite know how he was going to manage teaching students younger than him - especially when first years had signed up. 

Monday morning was very sluggish, as History of Magic seemed to last for decades, but at the end of the double period Harry had almost three pages of notes. Double Potions was spent going over their homework essay on moonstone, since only just under half the class had managed to get a passing grade on it (Harry had gotten a reluctant E, as had Amelia, Dorea and Hermione), which irated Snape greatly. Runes went by a bit too quickly, as Harry had really enjoyed the lesson. They had Defence sixth and seventh, sadly, which was spent in more boredom. However, it was soon dinner time, and Harry wasn’t quite a bag of nerves, as he knew that the Junior group would go a bit more smoothly than the Senior group in terms of prejudice, but he didn’t hold his breath. 

At half past six, Harry, along with his twin, godsister and two best friends headed to the Transfiguration classroom to set up. Flitwick came along not long after, and cleared the desks and chairs for them. Hermione was soon explaining the benefits of being there, “It’ll give me and Ron more responsibility, I think, given that we’re Prefects.”

Ron looked bewildered. “Oh, we’re actually going to be helpers?”

“Yes,” Hermione said obviously, “were you not listening?”

Harry smirked as he turned back to Professor Flitwick. “I want to do that exercise with them which I did with the Seniors, the one about the houses, as I think they’ll quite like it. But since I do not know most of them, I’m just going to get them to answer what they think of another Hogwarts house rather than each other.”

“Brilliant idea!” Flitwick agreed. “I’m sure the first and second years will have their minds blown by that one. Have you brought a list of the spells you want to teach them?”

“Yup,” Harry replied, handing Flitwick the sheet of paper. “I was thinking of starting off quite basic with the Knockback Jinx, and if there’s time the Full-Body Bind Curse. I also want to use this session to see which fourth years would suit being in the Senior group better, as I know for a fact that Ginny is.”

Flitwick nodded. “Yes, I agree, she is a bit more knowledgeable at spells. Also, it’s a very good thing you’ve picked the Knockback Jinx for them to do today, as the first years only learned it last week. It’ll be good for them to practise it more.”

At ten to seven, a group of third years arrived. Harry had no clue who they were - he really needed to get his act together and put names to faces. Most of the people who came in were strangers to him, but he was glad when Luna came skipping in, and was followed by Ginny and some of her friends minutes later. Colin and Dennis Creevey turned up too, and looked excited to get going. Daphne’s sister, Astoria, entered with a few of her friends, and she approached him. “My sister’s told me all about you,” she smiled. He smiled back as she went to take her place. He heard Ron quietly mutter that the first years were tiny, and that there was no way they were ever that small, but he was quickly told to shut up by Hermione.

At seven, Harry clasped his hands together and got started. “Okay, now that we’re all here, I want us to get started. My name is Harry Potter, as you’ll probably already know, and the aim of this club is to not only teach you some life-saving spells, but to also encourage you to make friends with people who you never even imagined to interact with.” The first and second years were a bit wide-eyed, but they clung on to every word. “Before we get started, I want us to do an exercise that will surely help us all settle in and work better together. Vicky,” Harry looked at the girl from the Keeper tryouts, who looked a bit startled, “be honest, what is your opinion of Slytherin’s?”

A few Slytherin students were eagerly awaiting her response. She flushed a bit. “Well, I don’t really have anything against them personally, but it seems that most of the bullying in this school is done by them.”

A few Slytherin’s got defensive, with one third year claiming that other houses weren’t innocent in that regard either. Flitwick soon commanded silence. 

“Interesting. Barnaby,” he called out to Barnaby Lee, a Slytherin boy he knew by reputation only, “what’s your opinion of Gryffindor’s?”

Barnaby Lee quickly scratched the back of his head, as if nervous. “I have no qualms with them, but a few of them seem to think that bravery and courage are the only traits you ever need to face problems in life.”

As Barnaby’s predicament carried no offence, people just shrugged or frowned at his comment. Harry could sort of understand where he was coming from. He quickly moved on. “Hope, how would you define a Hufflepuff?

Hope was a fourth year Ravenclaw, like Luna, but she seemed very opinionated. “They’re a bit too trusting, I think. They seem to believe that there's sunshine and rainbows everywhere, the way they go about life.”

The girl's comment struck up a bit of hostility. It was again quickly dispersed. “Lastly, Diego, what is your opinion of Ravenclaw’s?”

Diego Caplan was a fourth year Hufflepuff, known for his love for duelling, and he was friends with a good few people in all years. “They seem to be bookish, and only care about marks and grades, as if exams are the be all and end all.”

A few people got defensive, but they didn’t go at each other's throats. Harry then got the same people who he talked to to give opinions of somebody in the opposite House, just like he’d done with the Seniors, and when he’d finished off explaining why he’d just got them to do that, some people were looking at him in awe. After almost a minute of applause, he got them to pair off and practise the Tripping Jinx with somebody they’d never worked with before. He could tell the first years were a bit shy and didn’t really want to mingle with anybody that weren’t their friends, but with some words of encouragement they were soon in a pair. Harry and Flitwick, along with Hermione, Ron, Amelia and Dorea, then walked around the class and observed how people were getting on. Ginny had paired up with Luna, and seemed to be getting on really well. “I’m sure this is no surprise, but I’m sure you two will definitely be able to advance to the Senior Group after this session.” He said to them.

Ginny grinned. “Thank goodness, I don’t know what I’d do if I was stuck learning first year spells.”

He smirked back. Then he remembered. “Which girl here is Tulip Karasu? You know, the girl you said back at Grimmauld Place whose parents joined the Order?”

Ginny looked around the class. “She's paired up with Penny Haywood.”

“Who?” He said, as he had no clue what either girl looked like.

“They’re over by Diego and Barnaby, Harry.” Luna helped him out, and he soon saw them. “Is Penny a Hufflepuff? He asked.

“Yeah, blonde hair. She’s such a nice girl, Harry, I can’t believe you don’t know her.” Ginny said.

“I suppose I should introduce myself to them, then.” He said, and said farewell to them as he meandered over. 

Penny Haywood seemed to have expected him. “Harry Potter, we meet at last.” She remarked.

He felt himself get a bit nervous. “You must be Penny Haywood.”

“I am. I’ve seen you all around school. It’s quite curious we’ve never met, as we’re both popular people.” She said, smiling.

They talked for a minute before he moved to Tulip. She was a bit of a different character. She was a slim girl, with red hair. “Pleasure to meet you, Potter, your friends Fred and George are quite the pranksters, as am I.” She said in welcome.

“You too, Tulip. Please just call me Harry.” He insisted. He then spoke quietly. “Your parents are members of the Order.”

“Yes, they’ve been to a few meetings. They work at the Ministry, unfortunately, but they have no care for that toff Cornelius Fudge. Honestly, it should be illegal, the way he’s got a smear campaign against you.” Tulip said.

He was pleased. “I’ve long stopped reading the  _ Daily Prophet.” _

He continued his rounds, and mainly spent it getting to know people's names. The first and second years seemed a bit daunted that he was actually talking to them, but they soon relaxed around him. 

He glanced at his friends, and saw that Dorea was talking to a Slytherin fourth year girl who Harry recognised but didn’t know her name, whilst Amelia was striking up conversation with a Ravenclaw girl. Hermione was helping some second years with their incantation, whilst Ron was over with Ginny.

He suddenly found himself walking past Barnaby Lee and Diego Caplan, and he felt himself stopping to watch. He found it quite satisfying that two people who liked duelling had found themselves in a pair with one another. “You alright, Potter?” Barnaby Lee nodded at him.

“I just came to see how you two were getting on, since I know you’re quite advanced and strong.” He said quickly. Diego was looking at him thoughtfully. 

“I have a question,” Barnaby turned to face him, “out of all the people at Hogwarts, I would have thought that you of all people would detest Slytherin’s, yet you’re willing to accept them into this group. Why?”

Barnaby’s question sounded genuine. He was eager to reply. “I don’t believe that a House makes you automatically evil. Whilst sadly, it is common for many to become Death Eater’s and go dark, I believe that everyone has a choice - to be light or dark, and what matters is the choice that they act upon.” He said, thinking back to what Sirius told him. “If this club becomes the reason that potential Death Eaters change their mind and don’t join, then that can only be a win in my eyes.”

“But you’ve been targeted time and time again by so many Slytherins?” Barnaby said, neutrally.

“I don’t know you that well, Barnaby, but I feel comfortable telling you this,” he paused, “You know the man I brought back from the graveyard?”

Barnaby nodded. “Peter Pettigrew, right?”

Harry nodded. “Him. He helped to bring Voldemort back to a human form, and not only that - he was the one that betrayed my parents all those years ago, and got my godfather wrongfully thrown in prison. He was not a Slytherin - but a Gryffindor.”

Barnaby’s eyes widened. “B-but.. That seems so cowardly? He was a Death Eater, but in Gryffindor, and wasn’t brave at all?”

“Yup,” Harry replied, “and that’s my point - not all Death Eater’s are Slytherin’s, and evil can come from the other Houses too.”

Barnaby tried to take that in. After a few moments, he said, “My dad’s a Death Eater, and my mum’s dark as well, but not Marked.”

Harry didn’t realise, he felt awful. “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

He brushed it off. “Oh, it’s fine, you didn’t know anyway.”

When the session concluded at half past eight, there was a chorus of “awww’s” - clearly, they wanted to stay longer, and had enjoyed it, but they obliged anyway. Diego and Barnaby nodded and waved on their way out, as did Astoria and countless others. He was met with nothing but enthusiastic praise from Colin Creevey, which he grinned at.

Ron, Hermione, Dorea, Amelia and Ginny stayed behind to wait for him. “Another very good session,” Flitwick said, full of praise.

“Thank you, Professor.” He smiled, as he bid farewell to his Charms teacher and left the room.

As they walked back up to Gryffindor Tower, they were met by none other than Dolores Umbridge, who was standing at the top of the stairs.  _ What on earth is she doing here?  _ He groaned. “Hem-hem,” everyone froze, “what are we doing prowling the halls at half-past eight at night?”

“Professor, Harry had his Defence Club tonight,” Dorea answered.

“Surely you’ve just seen the others leave?” Amelia said.

“Is this true, Mr Potter?” Umbridge said, sickly sweet.

“It is, Professor.”

“Ten points from Gryffindor. It’ll be detention for you three again.” Umbridge declared, pointing at Harry, Amelia and Dorea.

“What?” Everyone said at the same time.  _ This is unbelievable… _

“Dolores, I do not think that is entirely necessary.” They heard Flitwick’s voice from behind them.

“Oh, Fillius, a man of your intelligence surely doesn’t believe that Potter was truly at his ‘Defence’ Club?” Her voice was shrill.

“As a matter of fact, Dolores, I was at this Club, acting as a referee. You can ask me what spells they learned, if you like.” Was Flitwick’s answer. All six of them were trying not to cheer or laugh by the fact that Umbridge had just been proven wrong.

The woman went a deep red, but her mouth tightened. “This  _ Club _ , I am quite sure of it, doesn’t have permission to be running.”

“Dumbledore signed his approval of it before the start of term, if you must know.” Flitwick slightly snapped. “You cannot put them in detention for attending an approved Club at Hogwarts, Dolores.”

Defeated, Umbridge resumed her girly voice. “As you say, Fillius.” She then drew her eyes level with them. “Back to your common room, then.”

When they got back to the common room, they sat down in an unoccupied corner and were spouting off all sorts about Dolores Umbridge. Even Hermione said a few choice words, - it was quite clear that Umbridge was her least favourite human. All Harry could do was sigh and stare into space. They had Astronomy homework for Sirius due for Wednesday, but it seemed like none of them really wanted to do it. 

The rest of the week passed at a moderate pace, with even more homework being assigned by the day, and Quidditch practise started up for the Gryffindor team on Wednesday at seven. It was Ron’s first practise since joining the team, and for the most part he performed decently, although did look disheartened whenever a goal went in. Harry mentally reminded himself to find time to help Ron with Quidditch. 

Most people agreed that the highlights of the week was fast becoming the DA. The Senior groups second session that Saturday went pretty smoothly, - they finished up the Disarming Charm and moved on to Stunning Spells, which everyone agreed would take a few weeks to practise since the spell was quite powerful and could cause damage, but Flitwick was on hand to make sure nobody got seriously injured. After that session had ended, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott had asked if they could have a word with Harry, which he was surprised at. He couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated by them though - not because they were Slytherin’s, but because they were slightly taller than him.

When he was left alone with the two boys, he awaited their query. “We’re not quite sure if you’ve had any Slytherin feedback in particular,” Theo started speaking,

“So we’d just like to point out how we… appreciate the inclusion.” Blaise finished, with the tiniest smile.

“Oh, thanks guys,” he replied. “It’s really no problem at all. I was quite curious as to why you joined, as I know you’re friends with Draco and that..”

The two boys shared a look.  _ Oh, have they fallen out?  _ He wondered. “It’s a bit hard, still being friends with him but also feeling a bit crap when he does nothing but belittle this club and call it stupid, but we are our own people - we’re at an age where we can do whatever we like, join whatever club we want, and he can’t dictate us.” Theo said.

“I know this sounds shocking coming from me, but if Malfoy wished to join one day, I wouldn’t agree with it, but I wouldn’t stop him either.” Harry said.

Blaise and Theo looked shocked, and let out low whistles. “Barnaby said you were accepting, but we didn’t think you’d be  _ that  _ accepting.” Blaise said, chuckling a bit.

Harry smiled. “Is Barnaby your friend as well?” 

“I’ve known him since I was little - y’know, both our dads being Death Eater pals and that, but yeah, he’s a friend of ours.” Theo said, casually referring to the fact his father was a Death Eater, which Harry almost laughed at.

_ Theo and Blaise are actually nice people,  _ he thought, really liking his first impressions of the Slytherin fifth years. He didn’t get his hopes up though - what if they were really spying on the club on behalf of Draco? What if this was all an act?  _ Oh stop it, _ his mind screamed at him,  _ McGonagall made sure that the parchment wouldn’t allow snitches into the Club. _

The three of them left the Transfiguration classroom, and walked together through the corridors. Just before they reached the staircase that would take Blaise and Theo back down to the dungeons, did they suddenly jump the height of themselves.

“ _ Stupefy!”  _ Someone had called out from the shadows, sending a spell directly towards them.

“GET DOWN!” Harry screamed, placing himself flat on the floor and taking Blaise and Theo down with him.

“What the-” Theo let out, as another spell just missed his head by inches.

Harry had his wand drawn, and Blaise was fumbling to get his out too. The three of them crawled to cover behind a statue. They could hear the attacker slowly stalking towards their general direction.

“What on earth do we do?” Theo whispered as quietly as he could. Despite the fact he’d only had his first conversation with them two just minutes ago, they would now have to battle against the person who had ambushed them.

Harry, who was the closest to the corridor, stuck his wand hand around the statue and shouted, “ _ Expelliarmus!”  _ He damned himself when he heard the attacker block it with a Protego. He felt his heart thumping in his chest. He shared a look with Blaise and Theo, who looked quite frightened despite their intimidating personas, and the whites of their eyes were showing, like a scared animal.

Harry desperately wanted to identify the attacker(s), so that they could be dealt with accordingly. They were definitely male, but they sounded slightly older - a sixth year or a seventh year perhaps? Or what if it was possibly somebody who broke into the school? A thought came to him then - could it be a Death Eater?  _ What if Voldemort is outside right now, with an army of his Death Eater minions? _ The possibilities were endless.

With Blaise and Theo poised to help, Harry sent out a few more spells from his position, but none of them seemed to be doing the trick - this ambusher was clearly smart. They got a huge fright when the attacker sent out a  _ Bombarda,  _ for it blew up the statue to smithereens and parts of the debris landed on them, meaning they had to cover themselves with their hands. 

Thankfully, Harry could hear voices somewhere in the distance.  _ Hurry up,  _ he willed for help to be on the way,  _ we need to capture this person! _

“What on earth?” They heard somebody’s voice from the staircase, and Harry used that moment of distraction to poke his head around the half-demolished statue and to set eyes on the man. However, he let out a “No!” When whoever it was turned around and sprinted away, almost without a trace. 

The first person to come and investigate was none other than Professor Babbling. “What on earth happened here?” The woman demanded, in a tone that was more shocked than angry.

McGonagall appeared, and Harry didn’t know if that was a blessing or not. She looked furious. “What is going on here?! Potter, Zabini, Nott, on your feet, now!”

It seemed the whole teaching faculty was arriving, for Snape came jogging on to the corridor and was on high alert when he saw Blaise and Theo, two of his own, covered in the stone dust from the statue and looking very dishevelled. 

The three of them eventually stood up and dusted themselves off, and he felt awful - the last thing the two Slytherin boys wanted was probably getting themselves in a pickle with Harry Potter.

Harry was most surprised when Dumbledore stood between McGonagall and Babbling.  _ Gonna look me in the eyes now?  _ Harry thought bitterly, as it took a personal attack for the Headmaster to finally address his existence. “Boys, what happened here?” Dumbledore asked calmly, but his tone was serious.

“We were attacked, Professor.” Harry stated for them.

“Attacked?” McGonagall gasped. 

“We didn’t see who it was,” Blaise said, “they sent tonnes of spells at us, so we took cover behind this statue. However, one  _ Bombarda  _ and it exploded all on us, but they ran away that fast we didn’t even catch a glimpse as to who it was. They stayed in the shadows the whole time practically.”

“Are you hurt at all?” The Headmaster looked to all three of them.

“Harry shoved us to the ground to avoid being hit, but that's the extent of it.” Theo said, glancing at Harry and nodding, which he was thankful for.  _ They don’t hate me then. _

“He  _ shoved  _ you down?” Snape sneered, “to protect his own skin, I bet-”

“Severus.” Dumbledore cut him off.

“Harry saved us, actually. He didn’t have to push us down and out of harm's way, but he did anyway.” Blaise came to Harry’s defense. 

“What direction did the attacker run in?” Dumbledore asked.

“Straight down that corridor.” Harry said, not meeting the man's eyes.

“Severus, with me. We’ll go and investigate. Minerva, escort Mr Nott, Mr Zabini and Mr Potter back to their common rooms. Stay alert.” Dumbledore instructed, as he drew his wand and strode off down the corridor with Snape without even a glance at them. Harry felt his anger flare, but calmed himself down quickly. The man wasn’t worth his time right now.

“I’m sorry you two got dragged into this,” he said to Theo and Blaise as they walked down to the dungeons.

“It’s fine, Harry, it was completely unexpected.” Blaise insisted.

“But the attacker was targeting me,” he said, “and either of you could have got hurt..”

“The main thing is that we didn’t,” Theo said, as they neared the Slytherin common room. 

“Right, you two, in you go.” McGonagall said, as Blaise and Theo stepped forward.

“We’ll see you around, Harry.” Theo gave him a small smile and a wave.

“Yeah, and thanks for saving our skin.” Blaise did the same, and smiled a bit awkwardly as they stepped into their common room.

Harry and McGonagall walked back up to Gryffindor Tower, initially in a bit of silence. “Sorry about the statue, Professor.” He said meekly.

“Potter, you shouldn’t blame yourself for this incident.” McGonagall said sternly.

He confided in her. “I’m pretty sure I was the target though - who would attack Blaise or Theo? They’re very unproblematic. The attacker must have a vendetta against me.”

“Whoever it was, they will face punishment, and a harsh one at that.” Professor McGonagall said.

“I bet it was Draco,” Harry mumbled gruffly.

McGonagall rounded on him. “Do not throw an allegation like that around willy-nilly, Mr Potter. There is no proof that this was done by Mr Malfoy or anyone connected to him.”

When they rounded a corner, they were met by none other than Pansy Parkinson. Harry then suddenly felt dread -  _ I bloody hope she didn’t just hear me accuse Draco… _

“Miss Parkinson, what are you doing wandering the halls? There is a dangerous individual possibly lurking about.” McGonagall asked, not in the nicest tone.

“Oh, just finishing off my Prefect rounds, Professor.” Pansy replied in faux innocence, although as they passed each other, the girl shot Harry a dark look, which held a bit of glee to it.  _ Oh gosh, she did hear me.  _ The girl stopped. “Wait, did you say there’s somebody bad lurking about?”

“Yes, Miss Parkinson.” McGonagall replied. “So I’d advise you to get back to the safe haven that is your common room, quickly.” The girl nodded, and shot him a glance before turning around and hurrying off.

When they got to the Fat Lady’s portrait, Harry asked a question. “Am I… meant to tell my friends about this?”

“Don’t broadcast to absolutely everybody, but just tell your circle. I don’t want panic to ensue, like the time your godfather slashed the portrait and woke Mr Weasley up. We don’t want anybody sneaking out wanting to be the hero either, trying to find the attacker and getting injured.” his Transfiguration teacher paused, “I will let you, Nott and Zabini know in the morning if we find the person responsible. Good night, Mr Potter.”

Saying farewell, Harry stepped inside, and his friends rounded on him instantly. “God, mate, what took you so long?” Ron said, sighing with relief.

“I have something to tell you,” was all he said, ushering Hermione, Ron, Amelia, and Dorea over to one of the corners. “Me, Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott were just attacked in one of the corridors.”

“What?!” The four of them gasped, attracting a bit of unwanted attention. He gestured for them to be quiet as he told them what happened.

When he was done, they looked quite shocked. “So you have no clue who did it, but you’re certain it was a male?” Dorea asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, that much was for certain. They stayed hidden the whole time, and even when they ran away I had no clue how to identify them.”

“But you’re mostly unhurt?” Amelia wanted to know, always looking out for him.

“Yes. All we got was dust from the statue on us.” He confirmed.

“It was nice of you to also protect Blaise and Theodore, Harry,” Hermione remarked, impressed, “I bet they appreciated that.”

He blushed. “Yeah, but it was only instinct. They don’t deserve to be hit with spells meant for me.”

Ron looked curious. “They’re nice Slytherin’s, then?”

“Yeah, they wanted to talk to me about how grateful they were that I include Slytherin’s in the club, and they seemed genuine in their praise.” He said.

It was a bit unnerving to think that the attacker could still be in the very same building as him right now, but Harry felt safe within the common room. At ten, he and Ron went up to the boys dorm pretty tired. Amelia, Dorea and Hermione did the same a few minutes later, as they heard them going up the stairs to the girls.

The next morning, Harry genuinely had no clue how he was going to spend his Sunday. He supposed that everyone else was going to be working on homework, so that would take up a good chunk of the day - for he had homework for Charms, Ancient Runes, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures to work on, plus some notes to do for Arithmancy. The one thing he was glad for was that detentions didn’t take up most of his nights.

As he headed down to breakfast with Ron, they got there pretty early, for there were only a handful of people in the Great Hall. Harry got an idea in his head when he saw Blaise and Theo already at the Slytherin table sitting across from each other. “Wanna sit with them?” He asked Ron.

Ron’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh, I don’t know…”

“Honestly, they’re fine with me, so they’ll be fine with you.” Harry convinced his best friend, and Ron nervously followed him.

“This seat taken?” Harry asked his two new acquaintances, who looked up.

“You’ve got guts, Potter, I’ll give you that.” Blaise smirked, impressed at Harry’s blatant rule-breaking. Theo looked impressed too. “Morning, Weasley,” Blaise also said to Ron, though less certainly.

“Oh, hello..” Ron replied not very confidently. Theo just nodded at Ron in welcome.

“Do you think they’ve found the person yet?” Blaise struck up conversation. “I’m assuming you told Weasley.”

“Yeah, I did,” Harry responded, “If they haven’t, I won’t be overtly surprised. The person ran away very quickly.”

The other boys nodded. It took a bit of time, but Ron started warming up to Blaise and Theo. He started talking more confidently, and they soon started talking about subjects. Blaise brought up the topic of Potions. “Potter, you seem to have become the best in the class at Potions.” Theo remarked.

“My godfather got me a few books over the summer which really put into perspective how it's important to understand every ingredient and what it does.” He half-lied, for he had read that from a book in Alphard Black’s library at Black Manor, but they didn’t need to know that. “You two seem to score quite well in Potions too,” he observed.

Theo barked laughter. “I’d fall apart in that subject if it wasn’t for Blaise. He’s the smart one.”

“I’m better at practically brewing, but Theo is quite good at the theory side of things too.” Blaise said. 

The four of them were getting to know each other quite well. Ron was telling them about his Keeper tryout when Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. Feeling awful, as he assumed it was professor Umbridge going to tell him off for not sitting with his fellow Gryffindor’s, slowly turned around, but it was Sirius.

“Sorry to interrupt, boys, but I’d like to borrow Harry for a few moments.” Sirius said, gesturing for Harry to follow him out the hall. 

When they got to the empty Entrance Hall, Sirius started speaking. “You were attacked last night, and I’ve just been alerted to this barely five minutes ago?”

Harry had just remembered. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Sirius, really! Professor McGonagall escorted us to our common rooms straight after it happened, and I assumed she meant for me to stay in there and not leave.”

“ _ Our  _ common rooms?” Sirius sounded baffled. “Who else was involved?”

Harry delved into telling his godfather about the attack, and how he, Blaise and Theo were involved. Sirius ran a hand down his face, stressed. “Goodness sake…”

“But I’m fine,” Harry insisted, “none of us got hurt, we were behind cover the whole time.”

“That’s besides the point,” Sirius said, “you were a target. Someone tried to hurt you…”

Harry kept quiet as he let the information sink in. After a minute or two, he spoke again. “It was really nice of you to protect your friends in the incident.”

“I’m not quite sure Blaise and Theo were my friends before, but we’ve certainly bonded after it as a result.” Harry replied, flushing a bit.

“You might want to sit back at Gryffindor table when Umbridge comes down, kiddo. She’ll likely land you in detention.” Sirius suggested. Harry nodded, although he did want to see Draco’s reaction when he saw him sitting at his House table. He wanted to get to know Daphne, Astoria, Tracey, Barnaby as well… But there would be other days for that.

Harry walked back into the Great Hall with Sirius, which looked about as empty as it had been when he came down. Begrudgingly, he and Ron said farewell to Blaise and Theo as they went to sit back down at Gryffindor table. 

  
  
  
  



	14. Hogwart's High Inquisitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Umbridge brings in the first of her outrageous Education Decree's, the DA gets caught up in the crossfire, and class inspections continue.

The next few days passed quite quickly. The past few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Amelia, with the high points being the DA and Quidditch practise, with low points being that everyone from fifth to seventh years were swamped with homework, which took up most of their weekend time. 

She had noticed that her twin brother was almost like a different person - he was making friends with DA members left right and centre, mainly Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott after their incident, who subsequently became acquainted with her, Ron, Dorea and Hermione as well. In terms of herself, Amelia had definitely found a friend in Daphne Greengrass. The girl was so nice in terms of personality, and she even sat with them in Ancient Runes with Tracey, Daphne’s fellow Slytherin and best friend. She was a bit shier, but Amelia discovered they shared a love for the Quidditch team, Wigtown Wanderers, which sparked their friendship too. Dorea was the same, in that she’d also bonded with Daphne and Tracey. Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Megan Jones were also fast becoming friends with them.

It went a bit skewiff on Wednesday. Amelia, Dorea and Harry sat at Hufflepuff table for breakfast, as Ernie, Hannah and Justin had invited them to. They had a good conversation about future jobs and careers, and even the fourth years all got talking as well. All was well until they went silent and heard a “ _ hem-hem,”. _

The three of them shared a look of dread. “Have you forgotten what we talked about a few weeks ago, Mr Potter?” Their Defence teacher asked.

“No, Professor.” Harry answered.

“Then I think you’ll know it is against the rules to sit at another house’s table. You three will be joining me in detention tonight, tomorrow and Friday.” Umbridge declared, smiling gleefully.

The Hufflepuff’s stood up for them. “Professor, they’re sitting here at our request.” Justin Finch-Fletchley said.

“Yeah, they’re our friends.” Susan added.

“Hush, my dears, this doesn’t involve you.” Umbridge talked to them like they were children. “Mr Potter and Miss Black in particular were reminded that the next time they did this would result in a detention, but they elected to disregard the rule anyway.”

Amelia huffed, and if looks could kill the woman would be dead. 

“Sorry guys,” Ernie apologised, “we had no clue she was serious about that.”

“‘S fine,” Harry said, “we should have kept an eye out for her.”

“How is there even a rule in place where you can’t sit at another house’s table? That seems to actively discourage making friends and inter-house relationships.” Amelia voiced.

“I read somewhere that unity between Hogwarts houses has been a problem since Godric and Salazaar,” Hannah said as they stood up, “something to do with their rivalry becoming infamous, and therefore resulting in Gryffindor and Slytherin students not liking each other. As a result, house rivalries started, like an every-man-for-himself situation.”

They said farewell to their Hufflepuff friends and sat down at Gryffindor table, where Ron and Hermione were. “We just got detention for sitting with our Hufflepuff friends,” Amelia said in slight rage.

“By Umbridge?” Ron asked

“Who else?” Dorea replied, in a distasteful tone. 

It was silent for a few minutes as they ate. Ron was glancing over at Hufflepuff table. “You guys looked quite friendly with them.” He said.

“They’re great, they stuck up for us.” Harry replied happily.

“I wanted to go over, but I just don’t know…” Ron mumbled.

“We know Ernie and Hannah, and Susan too. Justin and Megan are decent too.” Hermione said.

Harry was convincing Ron that he actually had a bit in common with Ernie, who was a fellow wizard chess enthusiast, when Amelia spotted an opportunity. Professor McGonagall had just walked into the Great Hall. When the woman passed them to make her way to the staff table, Amelia begged a word. “Professor, Umbridge just landed me, Harry and Dorea into detention for the rest of the week, all because we sat with our Hufflepuff friends at their table.”

Minerva sighed, and shot a glance at her colleague who was sitting mirthfully at the staff table. She clearly had a witch hunt (so to speak) against her Gryffindor students. “I am aware of this rule, and quite frankly disagree with its unfairness and how it's outdated, but it is a rule nonetheless.”

Amelia bit back a groan. “But… can’t you say you give us permission to sit at other tables from now on?”

“I could, but even if you do get permission, it will fall on death ears.” McGonagall replied, her eyes flickering in the direction of Dolores.

Amelia sighed, this wasn’t fair in the slightest. “So we have to have detention then?” Dorea asked.

“Yes. What does she have you do, exactly?”

The three of them shared a wide-eyed look, wondering if this was their chance to tell her about what really went down behind closed doors. Hermione clearly wanted them to tell her now, as she was kicking their legs under the table. “She has us do lines.” Harry answered.

Minerva eyed him. “Apart from boredom, I do not see what makes you feel so dreadful about attending them and simply  _ writing _ .”

“She has us there for  _ hours _ ,” Dorea said, “which means we were barely able to complete our homework from the first week.”

“I can talk to her about drastically reducing the hours you spend with her, if you wish, but I’m afraid I can’t do much else.” McGonagall’s word was final, though you could tell she felt bad for them. They nodded, and their teacher went on her way.

Hermione rounded on them. “Okay, why didn’t you tell her the truth after saying you would?”

“People could overhear,” Harry said, quickly drinking his tea so that she couldn’t question him further. 

“Then simply ask if you can speak with her in the Entrance Hall?” Hermione stated as if it was obvious.

Amelia felt awful that they would have yet more detentions - their hands were still slowly healing, and Harry had no clue how many bottles of Burn Paste he had left in his caddy bag - between them, they’d gotten through three bottles over the last few weeks. They then realised they had to tell Angelina - for Quidditch practise was at seven tonight, and Umbridge wanted them at eight, meaning they could only go for just under an hour. Their Captain was angry at first, but when they explained, she felt sympathy for them. 

Ancient Runes that morning was quite interesting - for Professor Babbling had them do a group exercise, where she’d give them a new transcript to translate, but to get them thinking more, she had purposefully put in some wrong Runes - their job was to also correct the rune and explain why it was wrong. Babbling also mixed the groups up - Amelia was in a group with Sue Li, Hermione, and Lisa Turpin. Dorea was with Ernie, Terry and Padma, whilst Harry was with Tracey, Stephen Cornfoot and Anthony. Babbling also had it be timed - whichever team completed the task first and got it correct would each earn their House fifteen points.

Hermione was already quite friendly with Sue, but Amelia was only briefly acquainted. She decided to get to know the girl more, for she seemed quite friendly. “I hear Ancient Runes is one of your favourite classes,” Amelia said, as they worked through the translation whilst Hermione and Lisa looked for the incorrect runes.

Sue looked up at her, and smiled a bit. “Oh, yeah, definitely up there. I think it’s easier than Arithmancy - it's just basically translating.”

“You seem to get great grades in Arithmancy too, though,” Amelia complimented.

Sue flushed. “Really? I’ve never really totally understood that class. My dad always goes on about it being such a good subject to take and wants me to do well in it, but he’ll be in for a shock if I don’t pass it.”

The rest of the task, Amelia found herself really easily bonding with Sue, but also made sure to get to know Lisa as well. Lisa was a slightly different customer, in that she didn’t really want to open up and talk during a class work exercise - preferring to just work, but Babbling didn’t really seem to mind them talking whilst they worked. Harry was talking quite animatedly with his group, and Dorea seemed to be smiling with her group too.

At lunch, the five of them sat down at Gryffindor table. However, Anthony and Terry seemed very eager for them to sit at Ravenclaw’s. They explained to them about Umbridge, and they quickly apologised and promised another time. 

As Amelia was eating her soup, she couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching her. She glanced up and looked around, but nobody was really looking. However, over at Slytherin table, she noticed that some Slytherin boys were either staring right at her or half-turned in their seats and looking at her. Feeling slightly awkward, she quickly tore her eyes away and drank from her cup, hoping they’d stop, but she could still feel their stares. Sighing in irritation, she looked up again, but the boys seemed to have gone back to eating. Instead, her eyes locked on Theodore Nott, who was glancing at her for a few moments, but he quickly looked away. Not quite knowing what to think, Amelia shrugged it off.

The rest of the day went by quite quickly, but maybe a bit too quickly, as at ten minutes to eight, Amelia was once again making her way to Umbridge’s office with Harry and Dorea. Their Quidditch practise was quite vigorous, so they had cast Freshening Charms on themselves. Dorea was as white as a sheet of paper. “If she tries to hurt you again, we’ll let the whole school know of her treachery,” Harry promised, and Amelia avidly agreed. Just as they came out onto the third floor, they bumped into none other than Sirius. “Uh-huh, where are you three going? Don’t you have Quidditch practise?” Sirius asked them, not looking that impressed, and he probably already knew the answer.

“Umbridge got us in detention for sitting at Hufflepuff table,” Dorea told her dad.

Sirius sighed. “I hate that bloody rule as much as anyone else, and support your actions, but she had every right to put you in detention for disregarding her twice.”

They all shared a look, and were probably wondering if they should tell him. Sirius caught on to them, and raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Is it only for tonight - your detention?” He asked.

“Nope,” Amelia replied, “we’re having them until Friday.”

“Only three detentions, that ain’t so bad.” He tried to sound encouraging, but to them it was only three nights of hell instead of five.

When they approached Professor Umbridge’s office door, they all braced themselves for another few hours of hell. Umbridge said that they would only be staying until nine, which was an improvement considering she kept them until midnight before, but it was still bound to be awful. 

And it was. At five minutes to nine, Umbridge called it a day, and their hands were once again pouring blood after a few weeks of being allowed to heal. The stinging and cramping came back with a vengeance. They tried not to sound vengeful when they left the room.

As they began their journey back to Gryffindor Tower on the other side of the building practically, they had just turned a corner when they noticed that Draco Malfoy was walking the same corridor, in their direction. Harry froze. “Oh no…”

Just as Amelia shot her twin brother a questioning look, did Malfoy call out. “Potter!”

“What do you want, Malfoy?” Dorea sighed in annoyance. The last thing they needed, apart from a detention, was Malfoy coming to ruin their day even more.

“My trouble is not with you two for once,  _ cousin, _ but with Potter,” Draco looked a bit angry. “I heard you were attacked on Saturday night, and that Blaise and Theo were with you. You can imagine my shock when Pansy tells me she overheard you accuse  _ me _ of being the attacker to Professor McGonagall. Want to explain why you think I am responsible?” Draco sneered at Harry.

“Well, you have the longest track record of trying to get me in trouble, so it stands to reason.” Harry held his head high.

“I beg your pardon?” Draco exclaimed haughtily, “Why would I attack you and risk hurting Blaise and Theo? Do you really think I’d be that insipid, Potty?”

“Look,” Harry said, “it was partly said in anger, alright? An offhand comment at most. Besides, it sounded like a sixth or seventh year anyway - the attacker, - so there was no real truth to my accusation. It was just that - a guess.”

Draco flared up, “False allegations can really impact somebody’s image and reputation, Potter, so I’d bloody well hope you don’t go around spreading this as a rumour - because trust me, I’ll bite back ten times harder. Starting with that club of yours.”

Harry bit back a retaliation. Instead, he just stared at the pale blonde boy. “I’ve had enough of being in your presence for one day. As I am a Prefect, I can now tell you to get back to your common room and not wander the halls like loony’s.” Draco carried on, looking down at them through his nose, before moving around them and walking away. The three of them shook their heads and carried on walking back to the Tower.

Their detentions on Thursday and Friday passed much the same as the previous ones, and when Friday’s one was over and done with, did they properly vow to never get into one again - for their hands were really bleeding quite drastically now. They had to properly wrap their hands in bandages, and waited until the morning to apply the Burn Paste, which at this stage, due to the writing being so deep, only stung it more. However, it held, and that was the main thing.

The next few weeks passed with virtually no bumps, and soon enough it was the first Hogsmeade weekend - which also meant Halloween was upon them. The Senior group of the DA were progressing at a nice steady pace - they finished up on Stunning Spells and soon moved on to learning Protego. Everyone soon grew more in confidence - not just at magic, but at working with people from other houses. Neville, most of all, was like a completely different person: he was confident in working with Terry Boot, Anthony, Ernie, and even some of the girls. Harry still wished that Seamus would join the club - even if only for his own reasons, as he was sure the boy would actually enjoy it. The Junior group were doing fine too - though the first and second years took more time to learn, Harry had come up with an idea: He would simply separate the room into two, with first and second years to one side, and the third and fourth years to another. This way, the fourth years in particular wouldn’t have to stand around and wait for the mere eleven year olds to catch up with the rest of the group; they could work at their own desired pace without having to rush anything. Harry was very happy with both groups' progress overall, so much so that he gave them Halloween weekend off, so they could spend it properly relaxing. 

Ron pointed out that there was a message on the bulletin board when they went down to the common room early the next morning. It read: “ _ Any student who wishes to sit at another House table may do so, with express permission from their Head of House. (Signed: Minerva McGonagall, Gryffindor House)” _

“Brilliant!” Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it, though he doubted if Professor Umbridge actually agreed with it. As they were about to leave the common room, Harry paused. “Hey, since we’re a bit early to breakfast, do you want to go out and practise Quidditch?

Ron raised his eyebrows. “Just the two of us?”

“Yeah, why not? That way, we don’t have other people watching. I could play a Chaser and we can just focus on you.” He suggested.

“Oh, brilliant!” Ron grinned, and they all but ran back up the stairs to their dorm to grab their brooms. When they got down to the pitch, it was a bit foggy and the clouds were grey, but even if they only got ten minutes in, Harry would still count it as progress. He grabbed a quaffle and the two boys kicked off from the ground. He circled the pitch a few times before he then soared towards the goal hoops. He tried to throw Ron off by looking like he was going to aim for the left hoop, but was really going to go for the taller one in the middle. Ron managed to save it, but only just. “I was prepared for you to do that!” Ron laughed as he threw the quaffle back at him. 

“You’re quick on the spot, and that’s a good thing.” Harry said as he turned back around to do it again.

They carried on for about fifteen minutes, and even though Ron swore and got a bit frustrated whenever he missed a save, or simply dropped the ball, Harry gave him good feedback. “Don’t beat yourself up whenever you miss one,” he said as they touched down onto the ground, “No Keeper saves every single goal.”

“I know, but I’m just thinking back to Wednesday’s practise - I could see and hear Angelina’s disappointment whenever I missed, and Alicia even told me to get a grip. I now hear their frustration whenever I do something wrong.”

Harry hadn’t realised that they’d done anything like that - surely they should be grateful that Ron was attending practise in order to better himself? That’s what Quidditch Practise was all about. He had half a mind to have a stern word with the girls, as getting angry at someone only doing their best wasn’t going to encourage them to feel confidence in their role. “I know they may say and do things like that, but they’re just very competitive people. They want the Quidditch Cup this year as much as any Gryffindor. They even get on at  _ me _ sometimes. They don’t think you're bad at all.” Harry reassured him as they walked back up to the castle. 

When they got to the Great Hall after putting their brooms away, they saw Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner at Ravenclaw table. “Do you want to join them?” Harry asked Ron.

Ron looked a bit nervous, “Erm, okay.”

They looked to the staff table, and Professor McGonagall nodded her head at them, giving them permission. “Mind if we join you?” Harry asked them confidently.

“Go ahead!” Anthony said enthusiastically, although Michael Corner looked less happy.

“Looking forward to Hogsmeade today?” Harry asked as he buttered his toast. Ron was straight away munching on a butter croissant.

“Why would we? It’s not like it’s any different.” Michael replied arrogantly.

Anthony eyed the boy. “Well, it’s nice to get outdoors and enjoy the fresh air.”

“It’s not like there isn’t fresh air inside,” Corner said arrogantly. Anthony gave Harry a look which seemed to say “ _ Ignore him,” _ , which he did, for the boy paid them no heed after that. Padma Patil came down not long after, and was pleasantly surprised to see Harry and Ron sitting at her table (her and Parvati had forgiven them for the Yule Ball incident last year). Anthony mainly started talking to Harry about Runes and Arithmancy as they ate. Harry felt a bit bad, as Ron didn’t take the subjects so couldn’t join in the discussion, but soon Terry came down and they started discussing the Chudley Cannons (Terry came from a family which supported that team), so he wasn’t left out for long.

“How are your private Arithmancy lessons with Vector going?” Anthony asked him.

“Pretty smoothly, although the fifth year content so far all sounds like Gobbledygook to me, I’m not sure I understand it that well at all.” He admitted.

“Number significance is pretty hard, and my last essay only scored an A, but I was only a few marks off an E.” Goldstein said, as if getting an A was illegal for somebody as smart as him.

They carried on talking amongst themselves, and Harry was momentarily distracted when Cho sat down a few places down the table from him. He nodded at her in welcome, being careful not to blush, but it was a bit hard not to. “Going to Hogsmeade today, Harry?” Cho asked.

“Yeah, with my friends.” He answered, taking a gulp of coffee to stop his throat from drying.

Cho’s smile dimmed a bit, but she quickly regained it. “Nice, there’s no DA on tonight, is there?” She asked, buttering a crumpet.

“No DA - besides, you all deserve a break from it anyway, as we’re progressing at a fast rate.” He answered, and everyone smiled in approval.

“I’m not sure if we’d attend anyway - for we’d all be at the Halloween feast!” Padma quipped, which they all chuckled at: the Halloween feast was always delicious and a hit among everyone. However, Harry tried to mask his sadness of this holiday - for it was coming up another anniversary of his parents death. He was sure Amelia was thinking the same thing. However, he was going to enjoy this day.

When breakfast was done, Harry and Ron met up with Hermione, Amelia and Dorea in the Entrance Hall as they lined up with everyone else, as Filch signed everyone out. The grubby old man was never in a happy mood. He practically snarled at him as he crossed his name on the list. Neville had asked to tag along with them, as Dean and Seamus weren’t going until later and he needed to send something off at the Post Office, and they gladly let him come with them.

Hogsmeade High Street was bustling with life, and Harry couldn’t wait to be visiting all the shops again. Sirius had given him, Amelia and Dorea a money bag to last them the year. Harry gave Ron about thirty galleons, which he gladly took, as if he’d just been given ten thousand.

Their first stop was to Honeydukes, and they all got a bag full each of a mixture of delicious treats. Ron was delighted when he got Magenta Comstock on a chocolate frog card, as that completed his first edition collection. 

Next stop was to  Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, for they all agreed they could do with more parchment notebooks - Hermione had almost completed a full one and it was only two months into term. They also grabbed some spare quills before paying and leaving.

Amelia and Dorea stayed with Neville as he went into the Post Office whilst Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the book shop. Ron wanted to see if there were any Keeper books in particular, whilst Harry mainly browsed the shelves looking for anything that he might like. He grabbed a book on tips for aspiring duellers, which he thought would be handy for the Junior DA, and tried to look for one which he could use for the Senior’s too (he planned to start duelling with them after Christmas). He found one, but also happened upon the official textbook that was meant to be used for OWL Defence Against the Dark Arts. He showed Hermione it. “I could definitely use this for the DA!” he grinned, glad he had found a book like this which would show them exactly what they were meant to learn. Hermione got herself some study guides and past exam paper booklets, whilst Ron found a book written by none other than Denison Frisby (the Keeper for the English National Quidditch Team) which was mostly about different mindsets to have when it came to the Keeper position. They met up with the others and went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, where Dorea decided to have lunch with Fred. Some DA members even joined them - Hannah and Susan were soon talking with Amelia, whilst Hermione, Sue and Lisa talked Transfiguration. Ron even plucked up enough courage to join Ernie and Neville’s debate about wizard chess. Harry sat back with a smug smirk, enjoying all the cooperation.

The door opened, and Blaise and Theo entered, bags in hand. They took a table near the bar. The two boys nodded and waved at him, and he waved back. He half-thought about going over to them, but decided not to.

Before long, it was time to get back up to Hogwarts to get changed for the Halloween feast. Their other friends joined them as they walked back up, meaning that they were now quite a large group. Harry glanced back as he talked to Ernie, and noticed that Amelia was in conversation with Theo, and that they got on very well. He was a bit surprised to see Blaise constantly eye Dorea, but thought nothing of it - Zabini was quite a private person, and surely wouldn’t publicly eye up a girl.

The Great Hall was decked out in the usual Halloween decorations, but it never failed to impress everyone every year. There was a record player playing both muggle and wizard Halloween songs, though it was neither too loud nor too quiet with the hustle and bustle of the Hall. When they all sat down at their House tables before the start of the feast, Amelia was still smiling. “I saw you and Theo talking,” he stated to his twin.

She looked at him. “He’s a nice boy, we get on like a house on fire.”

Ron gave him a look, and was holding back a smirk, however Harry had no clue what he meant. He was about to mouth to him when Dumbledore started speaking. He marked the start of the ceremony, telling them to enjoy themselves and divulge. With a clap of his hands, the food appeared, and everyone hummed in amazement. It looked and smelled simply delicious, as usual. 

Harry found himself soon stuffed to the brim, but Ron kept saying how it would be a shame if the spun sugar skeletons went to waste, so he had two more to appease him. That was his absolute limit. The end of the feast was marked with Dumbledore announcing two sets of entertainment - first, the Hogwarts ghosts would perform their traditional formation gliding, and then a troupe of dancing skeletons would perform the dance The Grand Old Duke of York, which promised to be highly entertaining and he encouraged them to sing along if they knew it. Both acts were very funny, he thought, and it helped to take his mind off his parents, who had been on his mind all day. He noticed Sirius was looking a bit glum up at the staff table too - and wondered if he was thinking of James and Lily on this day too. 

Up in the boy’s dormitory after they were dismissed, Dean and Seamus were almost clutching themselves laughing as they recalled when the skeletons all fell down at the end of the dance. Harry smirked too, for that had been quite funny, and found it quite nice to hear Seamus happy again. He didn’t outright dislike the boy - he just didn’t like how he was still blind to the truth. Dean was still talking to Harry, and attended the DA, but he was still very much undecided about who’s camp to be in. However, Harry was willing to give Seamus time - the boy had only really been hostile the first few weeks, and just elected to ignore his existence now. 

As it was only ten, and he wasn’t quite tired yet, Harry suddenly forgot about somebody else who was probably struggling this Halloween - Remus. He felt awful that he hadn’t written to him at all - he’d just been that swamped with school work and activities that he’d forgotten entirely. He quickly scrambled to get his parchment notebook out of his bag, along with his quill and inkpot.

After half an hour, his letter read:

“ _ Dear Moony, _

_ I am  _ _ so _ _ sorry I haven’t written to you at all since school resumed. Honestly, you must think ill of me. I’ve been extra busy, with school subjects, homework, and most of all the DA. You’ll be pleased to know that it’s coming along really well - the Senior’s are only a few weeks away from perfecting their Protego’s, which means I can do Shield Charms with them before Christmas. The Junior lot are a bit quieter, but they’re doing great too. We’ve made so many friends I cannot count all of them on my fingers! _

_ I hope the work for your organisation is also progressing. I’ve made a friend, Tulip Karasu, who’s parents I know have started working at your organisation too. I hope more members join your club the way students are joining mine.  _

_ I am still quite concerned for our friend RH - for nobody at school has told us anything regarding his whereabouts, which is obviously concerning us. Do you know anything? We’re quite worried, understandably, as it’s November as of tomorrow and he’s still not shown face.  _

_ Halloween today was fun - feast was brilliant, and got a good haul at Hogsmeade too. Was a bit sad thinking about mum and dad throughout the day, but my friends really helped take my mind off things so I wasn’t upset for too long. I’m sure you were also thinking about them too. _

_ I’ve just checked my Astronomy textbook, and I can tell by the moon cycles that your last time of the month was three days ago. I hope it wasn’t too sore a cycle, and that you didn’t manage to rip anyone’s head off. _

_ I wish you well, and hope this letter finds you in better spirits. _

_ Regards, _

_ Little Prongs. _

_ P.S. Who on earth let Padfoot become a you-know-what? He’s fun and all but.. Really? ;)” _

He had to take into account that apparently, Umbridge was doing random checks on owls being sent out, according to Penny Haywood, so he had to pretty much talk in code. He prayed Remus knew who he was referring to when he said RH - Rubeus Hagrid, - but he was sure he’d catch on. He would send Hedwig with the letter first thing tomorrow morning, and maybe coerce Ron to come with him to keep an eye out. Surely if they went to the owlery at like, six, they wouldn’t be caught? Umbridge didn’t come down for breakfast until seven usually, so he hoped tomorrow wouldn’t be any different.

Neville dimmed the light in their dorm, and Harry found himself not quite tired yet, so stayed up just staring at the ceiling and thinking. He still thought back to the attack on him, Blaise and Theo. It had been just under a month, and the attacker still hadn’t been found, and nobody had told them anything since. That made him a bit angry - the person could come back at any time, and attack anybody. What if an innocent first year got attacked walking the halls alone, with spells meant for Harry? He would feel truly terrible.

If it wasn’t Draco, then who? It was someone who knew that Harry would be returning from the DA at that time. He wondered if they’d been thrown off by the fact he wasn’t alone, as maybe that was why they kept themselves hidden. He mentally thanked Blaise and Theo for hanging back to talk to him, for who knows what might have happened if Harry had walked back alone - it didn’t bear thinking of.

On Monday morning, Dorea came down what she thought was quite early to the common room. She was a bit concerned at the amount of commotion she could hear as she was walking down the stairs.

Everyone was gathered around the bulletin board. Peeping over the shoulders of the tall sixth and seventh years, she could see Harry standing near the front. She squeezed her way into the crowd, finally drawing level with him. “What’s happened?”

“This  _ Daily Prophet  _ article has been put on the board,” Harry said stiffly, gesturing to the offending board, where Dorea could see quite clearly, the headline:  **_MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATION REFORM - DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST EVER HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR”_ **

“What the bloody hell is a High Inquisitor when it's at home?” Dorea said darkly. She tried to get closer, to read the smaller writing that was the article itself, but the font was too small.

“The morning post will arrive shortly,” Harry said. “Let’s get down to the Hall.”

As they walked through the crowd and out of the common room, Amelia, Ron and Hermione followed them, almost as confused as they were. 

Quickly sitting at Gryffindor table, they waited for the arrival of the owls. Everyone else at all the other tables seemed to be doing the same. As soon as one came for Hermione, she put a knut in the pouch attached to its leg and practically snatched the paper. They then spread it out on the table so they all could read it.

“ _ In a surprise move last night, the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

_ ‘The Minister has been growing uneasy about goings-on at the school for quite some time,’ says Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley, ‘Anxious parents have been crying out for the Ministry to intervene for some time now, given that the school has been moving in a direction that they do not approve of.’” _

Ron growled. “Bootlicker.” They all sniggered in agreement.

The article continued. “ _ This is not the first time that Minister Fudge has had to intervene to effect improvements at the school. As recently as the 30th of August, an Educational Decree was put in immediate effect to ensure that the Ministry can select an appropriate teaching candidate if the Headmaster is unable to find one. ‘Dolores Umbridge was such a prevalent candidate for the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and she of course has proved an immediate success.’ Says a Wizengamot member.” _

“A  _ success _ ?” Harry complained loudly.

The rest of the article was utter rubbish. Of course, Lucius Malfoy had something to say about it, as his name was weasled into the article about halfway through, and had nothing but praise for the Ministry’s decision, calling Dumbledore’s decisions “eccentric”. 

Dorea’s heart fell when she got to near the end of the article, as it read: “ _ Among those eccentric decisions are undoubtedly the staff appointments that Albus Dumbledore has made over the years. Some of them include the employment of proven WEREWOLF Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, and half-crazed ex-Auror ‘Mad-Eye’ Alastor Moody, although if Harry Potter has anything to say about it, he’d insist the man was Barty Crouch Junior!” _

Harry clenched the paper, as did they all. But there was ever more slander to come. “ _ If you thought they were bad decisions, then you’d be gobsmacked to learn about the new Astronomy professor at Hogwarts - for it is none other than Sirius Black! ‘Sure, the man may be proven innocent, but I don’t feel entirely comfortable knowing that a man with those previous convictions, framed or not, is teaching my children.’ Says concerned parent Mr Smith, speaking from his family home in Gloucester.  _

_ ‘It’s a good thing that my child is no longer of an age where Astronomy is a mandatory class, else I’d march right up to the Headmaster’s office and demand Black’s removal!’ says Mrs Irma Montague, mother of a seventh year student, rightfully outraged. _

_ It’s quite amazing, really, that Mr Black actually has supporters. ‘If the kids at Hogwarts like him, and if my daughter feels comfortable around him, then bugger what anyone else thinks, I say.’ Says Mrs Abbott, mother of a fifth year student. (For a full account of Mrs Abbott’s outrageous campaign for greater rights of house-elves, turn to page eighteen.) _

_ ‘Black is a proven innocent man, who is well within his rights to have a job for crying out loud. I fully support him being a teacher whilst the usual Astronomy teacher is on a sabbatical. Apparently most of the kids love him - according to my daughters, so I don’t know why other parents are even complaining when there’s clearly no problems.’ Is the opinion of Jamal Tuttle, 39. (For information regarding Mr Tuttle’s laughable claim that goblins are wrongfully treated in our society, turn to page twenty-four.) _

“I’ve had it up to here with that paper, honestly,” Dorea raged, refusing to read it anymore. Harry had too, and soon enough it was only Hermione reading it.

“Well, at least we now know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge forced her on us after all!” Hermione was talking fast, which meant she truly was in a bad mood. “It’s utterly outrageous!”

The article had also mentioned how Umbridge was due to carry out inspections of all the Hogwarts teaching staff, yet the woman wasn’t present to inspect Binns for History of Magic first thing, nor Potions. Professor Babbling must’ve expected her to turn up during Ancient Runes, as she kept eying the door, but she didn’t. As they were lining up for another dreadful Defence lesson did Ron have some information. “She appeared during Divination,” he explained to them, and a few people were listening, “Trelawney was a nervous wreck, and really didn’t do herself any favours. It started out okay - Umbridge asked us about our dream diaries, and questioned Trelawney about how long she’s been teaching. It all fell apart when she asked Trelawney to predict something. She had nothing at first, but then said there was something dark and grievous in Umbridge’s future.”

Harry chuckled. “I’d loved to have been there. That wouldn’t have gone down well.”

“Probably gave her no marks at all.” Ron agreed.

The woman soon turned up, her heels clicking off the hard floor, and let them into the classroom. She appeared in a jolly good mood, as she even graced them with a smile.  _ Probably because she’s technically just sacked Trelawney,  _ Dorea thought grievously. She didn’t like the subject that Trelawney teached, but she did feel somewhat bad for the woman.  _ Parvati and Lavender will be gutted. _

The double period was once again spent reading in utter silence. Dorea felt herself falling asleep more by the minute. When Umbridge walked up and down the rows of tables to see where everyone was at, Dorea quietly skipped five pages ahead - for she was still on the first page. There was no point reading this dumbed-down textbook. Harry had managed to find the textbook that was used in OWL level Defence at the weekend, and he was going to use it for the DA, which she felt good about - they wouldn’t be too far behind after all. When Professor Umbridge loomed near them, she felt her hand begin stinging again, and a lump formed in her throat. 

At dinner, they entered the Great Hall. Amelia seen Daphne sitting at Slytherin table with Tracey. “Will we sit with them?” She asked.

“I think I’m gonna sit with Ernie tonight…” Ron quickly said, as if he was afraid sitting at Slytherin table would cause great unrest.

Hermione had already planned to sit with Sue and Lisa, so elected to go to Ravenclaw table instead. In the end, Harry, Amelia and Dorea sat with their pale-blonde friend. She looked dead impressed. “We were wondering how long it would take you to sit with us,” Daphne remarked, grinning.

“We didn’t want to risk Malfoy’s wrath.” Harry said as they sat down. People down the table were glaring at them.

“He can’t get angry at you if we’re here,” came a voice from behind them, and it was soon revealed to be Blaise, although Theo Nott and Barnaby Lee were with him too. Blaise smiled at her in welcome warmly, and she did the same back. 

Dinner with their Slytherin friends was quite entertaining, as a few of them had stories regarding Umbridge inspecting their classes. Astoria, Daphne’s sister (who was in Ginny’s year), started telling them about how Umbridge inspected her Ancient Runes class earlier in the day, and that Babbling answered her questions in the most monotone voice possible. Umbridge, as if Babbling’s brilliance could ever be doubted, then asked her to translate a Runic sentence - which Babbling managed to do in less than a minute, much to Umbridge’s annoyance. They all laughed quite mirthfully as they imagined Professor Umbridge turning purple as a result of being unable to purge Babbling of her job. 

Dorea and Amelia chatted with Daphne, and they reckoned that Umbridge would most likely turn up to inspect Muggle Studies at some point. Professor Burbage would likely pass the inspection, as the woman was very knowledgeable, so that was another definite teacher who wouldn’t be sacked.

Dinner was always quite a long affair, and Dorea soon spied Harry getting his Potions essay out. She had half a mind to finish hers off, as she needed one more paragraph and a conclusion to do, but shook that off.

Theo Nott squinted his head at Harry’s essay, and read it. “That part isn’t necessarily true,” he said, pointing to the second paragraph of his essay.

“Oh, really?” Harry asked.

“Yeah - the first venom antidote that you mentioned isn’t actually that effective against snake venom, but nonetheless you can still include it. Make sure you mention that bit.” Theo supplied.

Blaise added, “I’ll show you mine, Potter. You also want to vary some words that you use - instead of using ‘because’ you could use ‘due to’ or ‘whereas’. Trust me, teachers hate seeing that word used over and over. Examiners too.”

Dorea was impressed. “You two are pretty smart, you know!”

Blaise smirked. “Snape would never let us be anything but,”

“How does that explain Crabbe and Goyle then?” Amelia added quietly, and despite themselves, they burst out laughing. Draco and his gang were glaring at them from down the table, as if they were in the library and not the Great Hall.

Soon enough, Blaise Zabini was adamant for Harry to copy his essay. However, two minutes later, Dorea spied Umbridge getting up from her seat, and was soon marching her way between Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, on a mission. Dorea knew exactly what she was about to do. “Harry, Professor Umbridge is coming!” Dorea said to her godbrother. But it was no use.

“Cheating on homework is not acceptable, Mr Potter.” Professor Umbridge now stood behind Harry.

“He’s not cheating, Professor, I’m helping him.” Blaise was quick to mention.

“Are you sure you aren’t being forced to say that, Mr Zabini?” Umbridge asked sweetly.

Theo scoffed. “He is literally helping Harry of his own free will, Professor, he’s not being held under Imperius, I can guarantee you that.”

Umbridge was taken aback slightly by Theo’s cheek. “Well, if that’s the case, then both show me your essay’s so I can make sure there is no word-for-word copying going on.”

The two boys handed her their essays. Dorea hoped that Harry had taken the initiative to change a few words here and there. He apparently had. “Very well, I can see there has been no blatant copying from Mr Potter. However, may I remind you that homework tasks are meant to be your own work.” Professor Umbridge said, handing their essay’s back, before smiling and walking back to the staff table. Sirius was looking in their direction, and was clearly a bit confused. Draco and his goons were in clear disbelief that Harry hadn’t gotten in trouble.

“I can’t believe you’d force me to say that, Potter.” Zabini remarked, faking a hurt voice.

“Give me your homework, Zabini.” Harry tried to put on a bully voice, however the two boys just barked laughter. 

When dinner was over, everyone was dismissed. As they joined the slow crowd of people making their way back to their common rooms, Daphne sounded concerned. “I have this weird feeling,”

“What of?” Amelia asked.

“It’s strange, but I feel like our school life as we know it is going to be altered. You know, due to the Ministry intervening.. But it could just be nothing.” Daphne answered.

Dorea kind of knew what she meant. “Yeah, and her becoming a High Inquisitor? It doesn't sit right with me.”

Little did they all know, the Ministry was about to make drastic changes.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	15. Educational Decree's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some drama in this chapter, and it's another long one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Gryffindor's rally behind Harry in an attempt to defy Umbridge, and Wayne Hopkins starts a return to class,

Amelia woke up on Tuesday morning, not quite knowing what had woken her. Shaking it off, she decided to just get up. She had noticed a few smudges of dried blood on her right hand - which usually meant her hand had bled overnight. She sighed irritably, and went to clean it before she then applied another Burn Paste on it. 

As she finished getting dressed, she went to reach for her wand, but then had an idea: to practise her wandless magic. She had barely had a chance to work on it since school resumed, which was annoying, but she vowed to find more time. So she saw an opportunity and held her hand out, thinking of the  _ Accio wand  _ incantation in her head as she willed it to work. It took a good few attempts, and she almost gave up, but then she felt a wave of magic flush out of her hand. She still wasn’t used to the feeling of it. Her wand now in her hand, she felt accomplished, but clearly needed tonnes of practise at it still. Amelia thought she could start with first year spells, and work her way through the curriculum wandlessly. Satisfied with that plan, she got up.

Tying the curtains around her bed back up neatly, she realised that Hermione was already up. 

Her bag on her right shoulder, Amelia descended the stairs and entered the common room, where she quickly saw Harry and Ron gathered near the bulletin board and looking at it over the heads of some anxious looking first and second years.

Dorea was shocked when she read what they were looking at:

“ _ BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS _

_ All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded. _

_ An organisation, society, team, group or club is defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. _

_ Permission to re-form may be sought only from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). _

_ No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. _

_ Any student found to have formed, or belong to, any of the above that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled with immediate effect. _

_ The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number 24. _

_ Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor” _

“Does this mean Gobstones Club has been shut down?” a first year boy, who she vaguely recognised from the Sorting ceremony as being Euan Abercrombie, asked his friend.

“I reckon Gobstones will be OK to reform,” Ron said nervously, to the surprise of little Euan, “I don’t think DA will be as lucky though.”

“Oh no, they surely can’t stop DA, can they?” A second year boy piped up, looking sad.

“Wait, does it say anything about the Frog Choir?” A third year girl asked from the armchair.

“Everything extra-curricular has been disbanded, so yeah.” Amelia supplied.

Hermione was standing in the doorway, and looked concerned. Ron dragged her over to read the notice. 

“That means… Oh, Harry, all your hard work to get the DA up and running..” Hermione said in a low voice.

“Didn’t you read it, you lunatic,” Ron said angrily, “he just needs to get permission to reform it and voila, it'll be up and running again. It’s hardly shut down forever!”

“Didn’t  _ you  _ read who’s made this decision in the first place?” Hermione replied shrilly, and pointed to the words High Inquisitor. “She’s hardly going to say ‘ _ oh yes, Harry, you of course have my permission to reform _ ’, with the way she treats him!”

“She’s right.” Harry said at last. “She’s never going to give me permission to reform straight away, not unless she has me do something for her.”

The notice also applied to the Quidditch teams. When Angelina read it, she was that angry she lobbed a cushion all the way across the common room so that it hit off the door. Alicia and Katie were pretty angry too, and Fred and George were nothing short of peeved.

After pacing for a few minutes, Angelina had calmed slightly. “Well, Harry, let’s go,”

“To get permission?” Harry said nervously.

“Obviously!” Angelina said impatiently.

Walking down to the Great Hall, Harry was trying hard to keep up with his Quidditch captain’s pace. When they came off the Grand Staircase, they ran into the Slytherin Captain, “Oi!” Angelina called out. The boy stopped. “Did you see Umbridge’s notice?” She asked him. Harry stayed behind slightly.

“Yeah,” the Captain replied nonchalantly, “Cadwallader told me, and Davies told him.”

“So you know we have to appeal to her?” Angelina asked.

“Yup.” The Slytherin Captain replied, shooting Harry a look.

When they entered the Great Hall, Harry was bombarded by his friends from the DA.

“What are we going to do?” Came from Susan Bones.

“Did you see the notice?” Barnaby Lee asked.

“Do you think she’ll give the club permission to reform?” Anthony asked nervously.

“Alright guys, come on! Let him through!” Fred and George said, trying to disperse the crowd. 

There was already quite a lengthy queue forming at the staff table, directly in front of where Umbridge was sitting. Harry joined it behind Angelina. He could hear the woman granting permission. “Of course Charms Club can reform, my dear!”

“Gobstones Club has been a club since Hogwarts first days, of course it can reform!”

As the queue shuffled closer, Sirius managed to catch eyes with him. He even came over. “Are you nervous?”

“A little bit, you know what she’s like with me.” He admitted quietly, as somebody was now lined up behind him.

“Make your appeal, and be polite. Stay calm and dignified, and make it sound like the club is very important.” Sirius said, before clapping him softly on the shoulders and telling him good luck.

The Slytherin captain was now appealing. As he made his case, Harry glanced round at the tables. The Hufflepuff’s were looking quite anxious, but nodded good luck. The Gryffindor’s and Ravenclaw’s weren’t even eating breakfast - clearly waiting until after the verdict, and his friends in Slytherin were hoping hard as well. 

He heard Professor Umbridge declare gleefully, “As a former Slytherin myself, it would certainly be an offence if I didn’t allow my House’s Quidditch team to reform again! The team may be reinstated!”

The Ravenclaw Captain was next. Roger Davies, who always looked so stoic, asked permission. Umbridge’s smile fell.  _ Surely she isn’t about to deny them? She can’t allow Slytherin to reform and not Ravenclaw? _

“Very well, Mr Davies, on account of your recent excellent homework, I can allow the Ravenclaw Quidditch team to be reinstated.” Umbridge said.

Hufflepuff Captain was next in line. Harry wasn’t sure if this was the Cadwallader that the Slytherin Captain was talking about, but he shook that aside as he listened. Umbridge smiled with her mouth shut. “Hufflepuff Quidditch team may reform.”

Now it was Angelina’s turn, and surely Gryffindor would be allowed to reform. Though Umbridge looked a tad reluctant, all four Quidditch teams were now reinstated, as she said a yes to Angelina.

Harry’s heart jumped a bit as he realised it was his turn. He stepped forward, and seen Sirius give him a nod.  _ Come on now,  _ his mind screamed,  _ you’ve got well over a hundred people counting on you right now. “ _ Professor Umbridge, I would like permission to reform the Defence Association - both Junior and Senior groups.” He explained in a calm tone.

Umbridge looked down momentarily, before looking up at him and smiling sickeningly. “Mr Potter, I will need some more time to think about that. Whilst I think of my answer, your Senior and Junior sessions on Saturday and Monday respectively will have to be suspended, unless you wish to be expelled.”

Harry took that response on the chin, and nodded thinly as he turned back around to head back to Gryffindor table to tell them the news.

“Well?” Neville demanded eagerly.

“She says she needs more time to think about it, and that I have to suspend Saturday’s and Monday’s session in the meantime, unless I want to be expelled.” He explained, watching as the faces around him fell.

He told the Hufflepuff’s, who were disappointed but otherwise hopeful that she’d allow the club to resume. The Ravenclaw’s were sad, but promised to keep revising theory. When he went over to the Slytherin table, he was intercepted by Malfoy. “Why are you over here, Potter?” The boy snarled.

“To speak to my friends.” He said simply, as he turned to Blaise, Theo, Daphne and Tracey, who were the only DA members down in the Hall yet. “Tell the other DA members that Umbridge has suspended both Saturday and Monday’s session.”

“I was looking forward to getting the Shield Charm right,” Daphne said, a bit sadly.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be back up and running soon.” He said, smiling at her and the others. Malfoy looked triumphant for some reason as Harry went back to Gryffindor table to eat at last. 

Feeling a bit crap, he didn’t actually feel like eating. His mood was only slightly improved when they went to Transfiguration for third and fourth, as Umbridge was there to carry out an inspection. “Oh, this’ll be good.” Ron looked excited as they sat down. It was - for McGonagall went about the lesson normally and acted as though she hadn’t seen Umbridge in the corner. 

As McGonagall explained how to Vanish mice, Umbridge cut in, “hem-hem,”

“-I wonder how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me, Dolores? I do not usually permit people to talk when I am talking, you see.” McGonagall rounded on the woman in a slight fury. Harry felt eternally satisfied when Umbridge’s face was no longer smug - it looked as though she’d been slapped in the face. The whole class was seemingly stifling gleeful laughter.

As they were attempting to do a Vanishing Spell on the mice, Umbridge wandered her way around the class and asked various people about Transfiguration. After a lengthy interview with Dean and Seamus, did Umbridge conclude the inspection. “How long have you been a teacher here at Hogwarts, Minerva?”

“Thirty-nine years this December,” McGonagall replied sharply. Umbridge made a note on the infamous clipboard.

“You will receive the results of your inspection within five to ten days.” Umbridge said, as she made to leave.

“I can hardly wait,” McGonagall said in a sarcastic tone. When the door closed behind Professor Umbridge did the class feel safe to let out a few laughs. Their teacher eyed them knowingly before demanding they get back to work.

At lunch, Harry and Amelia sat with the Hufflepuff’s, who were eager for their upcoming Quidditch match with Ravenclaw that weekend. Wayne Hopkins, a fifth year boy and DA member, was a Beater on the team, as was Megan Jones; which was a given, really, as she was a niece of none other than Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies. “It’s a bit strange being the only girl on the team, but I proper boss the boys around,” Megan said, causing them all the chuckle.

“How does your team look for this year, then?” Harry asked, curious.

“Quite strong, I think. Summerby is a very good Seeker, though he’s not your typical one. Wayne and I work very well together as Beater’s. Cadwallader is the strong one, I think. Zacharias-”

“-Don’t tell the enemy team about us, Megan!” Zacharias Smith piped up from down the table.

“Why ever not?” Megan sighed.

“It’s fraternising! Besides, knowing Potter, he’ll find weaknesses in our strength now that you’ve gone and told him all about the team!” Zacharias raged, so much so that people were turning in their seats to see.

“Oh my god,” Megan said under her breath, “Ignore him, he’s so overdramatic..”

“We’re all friends here, Zach,” Ernie proclaimed, “Quidditch or not, we’re no longer bitter rivals. I think we’re allowed to talk Quidditch.”

“Oh yeah? If that was the case, there’d be no need for the bloody game then, since we’re all ‘best friends’!” Zacharias carried on mouthing off. 

Eventually, Professor Sprout came over. “Mr Smith, I advise you to calm yourself down or leave the Hall this instant.”

Zacharias sat himself down, however he was no longer interested in his lunch: after two minutes of staring at his hands, he got up and left. Justin went to get up, but Wayne Hopkins stopped him. “I’ll go make sure he’s alright. Sorry about his outburst, Harry, he seems very protective over the Quidditch team.”

“It’s alright, Wayne,” Harry replied, as the boy went to go find Zach.

Megan carried on. “As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted,” they laughed at that, “Zacharias is a decent Chaser, but he’s so bloody competitive you’d think he was the Captain. Plus, him and the Keeper are always in cahoots with one another, they really dislike each other. Honestly, it dents the whole team dynamic. Every practise feels like a marathon to get through.”

“They sneer at each other across the common room, it’s so annoying, especially when you’re trying to work.” Hannah said.

“Wonder what happened for them to hate each other,” Amelia wondered.

“God knows, he won’t tell anyone.” Ernie replied.

Fifth period after lunch was Care of Magical Creatures, and as they walked down to Hagrid’s Hut, the five of them were eager to see if the man was back yet - however, it was an immediate no when they saw Professor Grubbly-Plank standing near the edge of the forest. 

Umbridge turned up to inspect the class, and although Professor Grubbly-Plank was quite plain with her, you could tell that the woman didn’t entirely approve of the High Inquisitor. They all grimaced when Draco was delighted at the opportunity to tell Umbridge of his incident in third year with Buckbeak: Malfoy claimed he was savaged and slashed by the animal. Umbridge scribbled that down frantically, and looked quite alarmed. Harry kept his temper in check that time - besides, Buckbeak was safe back at Grimmauld Place. Come to think of it, the animal could still be even safer at Black Manor…

The rest of the period was spent learning about Knarl’s - hedgehog-like creatures, and their quills were used in Potion making. They were quite spritely little creatures; if you even blinked around them they seemed to go into a frenzy and curl up into a ball. Crabbe and Goyle managed to sting themselves, which they sniggered at.

The final two periods of the day was Herbology. As they lined up at the Greenhouse, the five of them noticed that the Hufflepuff’s looked a bit anxious. “What’s up?” Dorea asked them.

“Wayne hasn’t been seen since he went to go after Zacharias,” Susan said, worried.

“Oh my gosh, really?” Hermione gasped.

“He didn’t turn up for Charms,” Ernie confirmed, “Flitwick alerted Professor Dumbledore, but we don’t know much else.”

Zacharias stood at the back of the line, looking glum. “Has Zach said anything?” Harry asked in a hushed tone.

“He says he didn’t even know Wayne had gone after him,” Justin said quietly.

“Oh, I hope Wayne isn’t in trouble,” Megan voiced her worries, “else it will kind of be my fault - I was the one talking about Quidditch, after all…”

“Oh nonsense,” Amelia reassured her, “I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

Professor Sprout came round the corner, and was talking to Professor McGonagall. The woman gestured for them to go in and sit down. “I’ll be with you in a moment!”

They went inside and took their seats, but they only resumed talking more. “Poor Wayne, hope he turns up unschathed.” Ron said.

“Where could he be?” Dorea wondered. “Surely he hasn’t gotten lost?”

They were debating all sorts of possibilities when Professor Sprout entered the class. “I have heard that Wayne Hopkins has been missing since lunch,” at this, the Slytherin’s looked a bit shocked, “and there is currently a search going on. You may see a few Auror’s wandering about, but be advised, they are only here on a precautionary measure, as this is an unlikely thing for Mr Hopkins to do.”

Harry wondered if Kingsley or Tonks were among the Auror’s summoned to Hogwarts. It would be nice to see them, if only for a second, but it was grim circumstances. Wayne was a DA member, so naturally Harry felt concerned for him. 

That double period they went over the Belladonna plant, but most of the class’s mind wasn’t on the task at all, and neither was Sprout’s. The Hufflepuff’s in particular weren’t up for working - even Ernie was distracted.

In the last twenty minutes of the double period, did they perk up a bit when they heard a knock at the classroom door. It was none other than Sirius. “One moment please,” Sprout said to the class. Harry tried to hear what they were saying as they stood outside and talked.

After a minute, Sprout came back in, and the class braced itself for good or bad news. “Mr Hopkins has been found - he is currently in the Hospital Wing. However, he has sustained a few injuries, and may need to be transferred to St Mungo’s if they worsen.”

Though it was good to know that Wayne was alive, it didn’t sound good that he was injured. Megan in particular looked most guilty. 

“What on earth could have happened to him?” Justin wondered out loud.

Harry thought that too - Wayne had sustained injuries, that much was for certain. He wasn’t a clumsy person, so he couldn’t have fallen. Could he have got into a fight with another student? Unlikely, since he seemed quite reserved and neutral. 

A cold feeling washed over Harry then - could Wayne have been attacked by the same person that attacked him, Blaise and Theo? Could they have come back for more?

It was quite clear that nobody’s mind was on Herbology, so Sprout willingly dismissed them early. She said that they would properly go over Belladonna again during their double tomorrow, hoping by then that the air would be cleared.

As they walked to the Great Hall, the Hospital Wing was cordoned off entirely; nobody could enter it, and two Auror’s were stationed outside of it.

“Gosh, do you think that’s for Wayne?” Ron said from behind him.

“Must be,” Harry commented, “something dodgy clearly happened to him.”

The five of them sat at Hufflepuff table for dinner, in an attempt to comfort their friends. Sooner or later, some Ravenclaw’s filtered over, and even Daphne and Tracey came over. 

The subject of Wayne Hopkins seemed to be on every student’s mouth, as word always travelled fast at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was notably absent from the staff table - Harry assumed he was currently in the Hospital Wing with Sprout. To see the first years faces, you’d think a sinister murder had taken place. Umbridge wasn’t there either; but of course, she was their ‘High Inquisitor’, so she was probably doing just that - sticking her nose in to report all of it to Fudge. Hogwarts may as well be an outpost of Cornelius Fudge’s office, the way things were being run now.

Harry could barely finish his baked potato, as he felt dreadful ever since he started considering the possibility that Hopkins had been ambushed by the same attacker. However, the whole school was soon on high alert when Dumbledore came striding into the Great Hall, looking grave, with Sprout and Umbridge behind him. Dumbledore went to the podium - clearly, he was about to make a speech.

“Attention!” The Headmaster called out, silencing the hall. “At one-twenty p.m today, a Hogwarts student was attacked in a second floor corridor. You may know him as Wayne Hopkins, fifth year Hufflepuff. Mr Hopkins is recovering well in the Hospital Wing, however no visitors are permitted to see him  _ at all _ until further notice. Mr Hopkins has told his story of how he was attacked, but also allowed his memories to be used for confirmation, and has given permission for his story to be told to you all in an attempt for you to keep your wits about you.

Mr Hopkins initially left the Great Hall to go after a friend. Thinking that his friend would instinctively go back to his common room, he started on that route. However, before he could even reach the staircase, Mr Hopkins was placed under an Imperius Curse,” the room gasped at that, “and was directed against his will to instead walk up the stairs to the second floor. When his attacker eventually led him to a quiet second-floor corridor, that was when the attacker started… well, attacking. Hopkins was hit with multiple spells, but was also physically beaten up. As a result, he has broken three ribs, fractured another, and has bruising around his face. He is lucky to so far not be feeling any internal side-effects from the spells used on him, but if he does, he will have to be transferred to St Mungo’s Hospital in London for further treatment. However I have no doubt that our very own Madam Pomfrey will take great care of him and help him mend. I’m afraid he won’t be back on the Quidditch pitch anytime soon, nor physically using magic in his classes.

As a result of this unfortunate event, the faculty has brought out a simple but effective rule: Do not, under any circumstance, walk by yourself around Hogwarts. This is a mandatory rule as of today. Always be in a group of two or more. Older students, I expect you all to take responsibility. If you see a lonely student: ask them where they’re going, and walk with them to their destination. It could save somebody’s life. By abiding in this advice, it will help prevent another attack like this. It is a time to band together, help each other out. We are, after all, a big family here at Hogwarts; not only within our Houses, but within each other.”

Speech done, most people started applauding. Harry found himself a bit uneasy - Wayne was put under an Imperius, and suffered badly for it as a result.  _ It could have so easily been me,  _ Harry thought,  _ or Justin, who had almost gone instead. _

Dumbledore had said nothing in regards to the attacker - surely, if they had gone through Wayne’s memories, they would be able to identify the assailant? This seemed to be on the mind of the others too. “Why hasn’t he said the name of the attacker?” Penny Haywood asked incredulously, “surely they’ve identified him by now?”

“It’s weird how they haven’t said if the person has even been caught or not,” Padma Patil pointed out, “if they’ve captured the assailant, then surely there’s no need for us all to walk about in groups?”

“They might not know yet if the attacker was acting alone,” Diego suggested, “there could be more, lurking in the shadows…”

Everyone was dismissed from the Hall then, and Prefects were exempt from their evening-rounds duties until further notice. Ron and Hermione were meant to do the rounds tonight - only Ron seemed glad to not be wandering the school. 

Back in the common room, it seemed that everybody was debating Wayne’s situation. Seamus, ever loud, proclaimed that somebody had broken into the school; he called it another one of Dumbledore’s ‘failures’ as Headmaster, and they were utterly sure he said some snide remarks about Harry at some points. 

Amelia, trying to complete her Muggle Studies homework, found herself utterly distracted due to all the talking. Harry had long since ignored his Arithmancy work, and was instead staring at the fire across from them. Even Hermione was no longer reading her Transfiguration textbook. 

Her twin brother finally spoke. “I can’t help but feel responsible…”

“Eh?” Ron looked incredulous. “Why on earth would you think that? Nobody’s at fault except the assailant, mate.”

“Well, I asked Megan about the Hufflepuff team, which led to Zacharias getting angry, which led to him leaving the Hall, which led to Wayne going after him..” Harry explained.

“So using that logic, it’s Professor Sprout’s fault for telling Zacharias to sit down or leave?” Dorea pointed out.

“What? No-” Harry started,

“Exactly,” Dorea cut him off, “you are not at fault Harry, neither is Megan, nor even Zach. Nobody could have predicted that Wayne would go missing for almost two hours and get badly hurt.”

“But there’s the other possibility that it could have been the same attacker from my incident,” Harry said, “if I had taken the initiative to identify the attacker, then all of this could have been prevented.. The assailant could have been captured weeks ago.”

“Even if it was, it’s still the same outcome. How were you meant to identify somebody who stayed hidden the whole time?” Amelia added her voice. “The main thing is that Wayne is alive and well, he’ll live to fight another day.”

Harry still didn’t look entirely convinced, but he felt better after the talk. 

The rest of the week passed in mostly the same fashion. Umbridge was still inspecting classes, and had still said nothing regarding the DA. Harry hoped she’d let him reinstate the club soon - he didn’t want both groups falling more than two weeks behind, as he wanted to get them duelling before Christmas.

The new rule of walking around in groups of two or more was quite easy to follow during the morning and afternoon, but in the evenings it wasn’t as easy - Hermione wanted to go to the library for a few hours most evenings, but since the four of them were going to Quidditch practise two times a week now (Angelina didn’t think one practise a week was enough), they had to walk her there, go to practise, and then walk all the way back up to the library to walk with her back to Gryffindor Tower. 

On Saturday, the first Quidditch game of the year was kickstarted by Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw. It had been fascinatingly good - even though Wayne wasn’t playing Beater with Megan, the Reserve Beater that had come on to take his place was very strong. Cho had gotten better at being a Seeker too; she no longer followed hot on the heels of the other Seeker, but elected to constantly throw Summerby off by soaring in the opposite direction, as if she’d sighted the Snitch. Hufflepuff started scoring left right and centre, but Ravenclaw managed to win it marginally when Cho caught the Golden Snitch whilst racing Summerby to it. Harry felt a bit bad for the Hufflepuff’s, but congratulated both teams on their efforts. Megan was graceful in defeat; Zacharias furious.

The next game - Gryffindor vs Slytherin - was next Saturday, so Angelina really ramped up how hard she worked them in practise. On Wednesday’s practise, before even playing a mock match or doing warm-ups, she had them fly round the entire Quidditch pitch five times in one direction, and another five times in the opposite direction. That was quite tiring, but had them more alert. He never felt better, soaring through the air on his Firebolt. He was glad for the outdoors, even though it was raining slightly. 

When they got down to the actual mock match, it started falling apart slightly. After only three minutes, Angelina blew the whistle, and told Ron he wasn’t covering his middle and right hoops and to stay central. Then barely five minutes later the whistle was blown again - this time, Ron was unconsciously moving around as he watched the play; meaning that he was almost eight feet away from the goal hoops, causing him to scramble back. Ron did manage to save goals from what Harry could see, but when he saved one, it accidentally went soaring towards Katie Bell’s nose; and consequently hit her.

Katie bled quite a bit, and soon enough Angelina brought their practise to a gruff end. Madam Hooch soon got her cleaned up, but Angelina called it a day nonetheless. Though she wasn’t angry, she wasn’t overly pleased either.

As Harry waited in the changing rooms whilst Ron showered, Angelina came up to him. “Have you managed to fit some one-to-one’s with Ron in?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied earnestly, “he does really well when it's just me and him. Though he gets a bit downhearted whenever he misses, that’s all there really is to his problems.”

“He needs to get used to the team,” Angelina said, “our match is on Saturday, and god knows what he’ll do with not only two teams, but a whole crowd of people watching him, counting on him.”

“I know, I really hope his nerves don’t get the better of him.” Harry added. “I might have a look and see if there’s a nerve-calming spell - or better yet, give him a Calming Draught.”

Angelina nodded and smiled. “That would certainly help.”

Saturday’s Quidditch game against Slytherin went pretty well, as they managed to win, but Slytherin didn’t go down without a fight - rather, a good handful of fights.

As Amelia, Dorea and Ginny were all Reserve’s they weren’t playing, however they were on standby in case somebody got injured. As Harry was very unlikely to get hit by a Bludger, Amelia half-knew she wouldn’t get called up. Conditions were pretty murky, and halfway through a flurry of rain arrived, but that put nobody off; Quidditch was played in all conditions.

Harry soared right past them as he hunted the Snitch. “G’warn, Harry!” The three of them called out in support as he whizzed past them on his Firebolt. Draco Malfoy wasn’t far behind him, calling out distracting insults. 

Even though she couldn’t see Ron’s face very well, Amelia could tell he was nervous. This was, after all, his first ever match, and she knew how daunting the crowd could be. However, Ron’s confidence seemed to grow whenever he saved a goal, which could only be good, as Slytherin’s Keeper didn’t appear that good at all. 

Crabbe, who had somehow become Slytherin Beater (along with Goyle), soon began foul play. He whacked a Bludger straight towards Alicia Spinnet as she was attempting a goal, causing her to almost lose balance. “A disgusting foul on Gryffindor’s Spinnet there!” Lee Jordan was commentating, and venting profusely, “Crabbe has the gall to say that was an accident!” (At that, McGonagall commanded Lee to continue commentating and not be biased). “Gryffindor’s Captain and star Chaser Johnson has offered to take the penalty… Here she goes.. Yes! She shoots and she scores! Brilliant!” The crowd mostly erupted in cheers. “That makes Gryffindor 110-90!”

Soon enough, the team started losing ground quicker than Harry wanted. George shot a Bludger at Goyle, which Hooch declared a penalty to Slytherin… and Ron missed the save, making Slytherin now only ten points behind Gryffindor.

As Draco was distracted by Ron missing the shot and therefore laughing at him, Harry sighted the Snitch about twenty feet downwards. Malfoy was still distracted, so took the opportunity - he went head-first into a dive, before giving the Firebolt the slightest tug upwards to straighten the broom out. The Snitch darted off, but Harry managed to catch it within seconds. He hooted in celebration, and Lee Jordan declared the final score over the shouting: Gryffindor 260-100 Slytherin.

As soon as he touched down on the ground, the whole team charged at him and barreled into a group hug. Fred and George lifted him up onto their shoulders and started a chant which went “ _ Potter’s still got it!” _ , which was quickly taken up by the Gryffindors, and even the other houses.

Draco was downright furious, and was angrily mouthing off to Crabbe and Goyle, who flexed their muscles and glared at the Gryffindor team. When Fred and George finally put Harry down, did he get surrounded on all sides. Sirius made his way through the crowd of students and soon engulfed Harry. “Oh, you’re far too good!” Sirius declared, grinning from ear to ear.

Various members of the DA swarmed him, and congratulated him and the rest of the team on the win. Even Blaise, who was a Slytherin Chaser, approached him and patted him on the shoulder well-done. Theo came to say well done too, but he looked a bit concerned. “Don’t let Ron hear what the other Slytherins are chanting,”

Harry was a bit confused, but he soon understood when he heard a chorus erupt from the Slytherin’s, led by Montague.

“ _ Weasley cannot save a thing, _

_ He cannot block a single ring, _

_ That’s why Slytherin’s all sing, _

_ Weasley is our King. _

_ Weasley was born in a bin, _

_ He always lets the Quaffle in, _

_ Weasley will make sure we win, _

_ WEASLEY IS OUR KING!” _

Quickly looking around for Ron, he quickly located him and led him towards the changing rooms in something akin to a rush. However, it was quite hard to walk quickly when there were still a horde of students around you. A gap opened up, and Harry went for it, but somehow Malfoy appeared, seemingly from nowhere. “Did you like my lyrics, Potter?”

“Lay off, Malfoy.” He grunted, not in the mood for the boy. If there was ever someone who could dampen a win, it was him.

“We would have wrote a few more verses, see, but we couldn’t find anything to rhyme with ‘fat’ and ‘ugly’, y’know, for his mother.” Draco called out.

“Somebody’s clearly sour that he lost,” Angelina said, casting Malfoy a look of distaste. 

“We couldn’t rhyme anything with ‘useless buffoon’ either, for his father.” Malfoy carried on.

Fred and George had heard Malfoy say that, and slowly turned around stiffly, eying up Malfoy.

“Leave it!” Katie said at once, trying to turn George back around.

“Fred, honey, let him make his threats, he’s a bitter little sod.” Dorea had turned up, and had taken her boyfriend by the arm, trying to talk him down, however she had to talk quietly as Sirius was not far away, congratulating Alicia.

“But you like the Weasley’s, don’t you Potter?” sneered Malfoy, “Don’t you spend holidays with them? Can’t imagine how you stand the stench-”

“-Malfoy!” Amelia warned, now trying to aid Dorea in talking down Fred whilst Ginny aided Katie with George. Hermione was near Harry.

“-But I suppose the smell reminds you of the reeking hovel your mother dragged you and your sister up in, so it’s probably lovely to you.”

Harry’s mind was desperately trying to keep him from pouncing on Malfoy that instant. He craned his neck around to look for a teacher - Sirius was still up the top of the hill, and wouldn’t hear him, not unless he shouted. However, that comment was the final straw. 

Harry wasn’t even aware that he’d stomped past George, but all he knew was that he and George were now heading towards Draco, who was now just standing laughing. Harry drew back the fist which still contained the Snitch and pummeled it into Malfoy’s stomach, causing the boy to fall backwards.

“HARRY! GEORGE!  _ FRED, NO _ ! STAND DOWN RIGHT NOW!” He heard the girls shout.

George was now swearing, and Fred had escaped the grasp of Dorea and Amelia and was now about to join in the fun. Vaguely, he heard a whistle being blown somewhere, and more people were shouting. Pansy Parkinson was screaming shrilly like a banshee.

Draco was now whimpering as Fred and George took turns hitting him. Harry was about to aid them, but he felt himself be thrown back by an Impediment Jinx and rolled on his back down the hill, Fred and George soon joining him.

“What do you three think you’re playing at?!” Madam Hooch screamed, no longer berating Crabbe. “I have  _ never  _ seen such behaviour and poor sportsmanship, EVER! The three of you, straight up to your Head of House’s office, NOW!”

Harry had never felt so stupid. Sirius was now alongside Madam Hooch, and looked  _ furious.  _ Along with Fred and George, the three of them marched back up to the castle together, still in their Quidditch gear. People stared at them as they walked, and Harry couldn’t tell if they were impressed, disappointed or angry. The three of them never exchanged a single word; probably because they now felt dread.

When they neared Professor McGonagall’s office, their teacher appeared at the other end of the corridor, walking quickly. She tore her Gryffindor scarf from her neck, and went a shade of red. “Inside!” She commanded. The three of them now stood in her office, and she quickly strode behind the desk, slamming her fists down on it, rattling the items on it. “Well? I have never seen such disgraceful behaviour. Three on one! Explain yourselves this instant!”

“Malfoy provoked us,” Harry offered meekly.

“PROVOKED you?!” McGonagall seethed, “His team had just lost the match, of course he’s going to be raging, and take his anger out on you! But what on earth did he even say to provoke such a response?!”

“He called our mum fat and lazy, and called our dad a useless buffoon. He insulted Harry and Amelia’s mum too.” Fred explained.

“At least Miss Potter didn’t take the bait! Instead of telling a teacher, or any adult for that matter, you then decided to put on a show of brawling like muggles outside a pub!” McGonagall bellowed. “Do you have any idea what-”

“- _ Hem-hem _ ,”

The three boys wheeled around, and Harry swore under his breath when none other than Umbridge was standing in the doorway, dressed in green, and greatly resembling a giant toad.

“May I lend a hand and help, Professor?” asked Dolores Umbridge.

“Help?” McGonagall replied reproachfully.

“Well, I thought you might be grateful for a little extra authority,”

“I am their Head of House, so I will deal with them as I see fit.” McGonagall said quickly, before turning back to them. “For your disgraceful actions, I am giving the three of you a week’s worth of detentions. Do not look at me like that, Potter, you brought this upon yourself! You will attend-”

“- _ hem-hem _ ”

Professor McGonagall stopped talking and closed her eyes, as if she was praying for more patience, before turning around. “ _ Yes?” _

“I do not think their punishment is adequate, Minerva.” Umbridge stepped further into the room.  _ Uh oh. _

“Well, it is not for you to decide, Dolores.” 

“Actually, Minerva, it now is.” Umbridge paused, “In accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty Four-”

“ _ Another one?” _

Umbridge started reading from a sheet of paper.  _ “- _ Minister Fudge has made it so that now, the High Inquisitor has the power to strip pupils of certain privileges. You see now why I was originally reluctant for the Gryffindor team to reform, Minerva?  _ Terrible  _ tempers. Anyway, henceforth, I now have the supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter them as I see fit.” She rolled the paper back up. “So, I really think a proper punishment is in need here. I declare that Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Harry Potter shall now receive a lifelong ban of playing Quidditch.”

Harry felt his stomach fluttering like mad, and his heart fell through the floor. “Ban us from playing ever again?”

Fred and George were tensing beside him. Umbridge blinked at him. “Yes, Mr Potter. Be glad it wasn't an immediate expulsion - for Mr Malfoy almost resembles poor Mr Hopkins now. In order for these three to remain banned, I shall like to confiscate their brooms and have them locked up for safekeeping. But I am not unreasonable, Minerva,” Umbridge now turned to McGonagall, who was standing as still as a statue, staring vengefully at her. “I am aware the team has Reserve’s, including Miss Potter, Miss Weasley and Miss Black. Now, an unreasonable person would ban them as well for the crime of being related to these boys, but I see no reason for them to be punished for others wrong-doings. Well, good afternoon to you…”

With that, Umbridge left the office triumphant, smiling sickeningly. Harry looked to Fred and George, who were seemingly frozen in place too. McGonagall spoke up eventually. “Well, I suspect there’s still a match win to celebrate back in your common room.”

The three of them left the office, still not speaking, but they were all thinking the same thing - Professor Umbridge was by far the worst thing to ever come out of this school; she had taken Quidditch away from them.

  
  
  
  



	16. Assailant Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Hagrid returns to Hogwarts, and Harry gets in trouble during Potions.

Angelina was not that impressed that they had gotten a lifetime ban from Quidditch. However, the only consolation seemed to be that she was more angry at Umbridge than them. “I bet Draco will only get a slap on the wrist,” she had said.

“He won’t get in any sort of trouble, he’ll call himself a victim.” Amelia said reproachfully. 

“Hey, at least it means you’ll get a few games in now.” Harry looked on the bright side momentarily. Amelia was the Reserve Seeker, so it now meant she’d play games full-time. 

“It’s just so unfair,” Alicia Spinnet had said, “your ban. I mean, Crabbe almost took me out the game completely with that Bludger! I don’t see him getting banned for that.”

Harry then realised that he hadn’t seen Ron since the incident. “Where’s Ron?”

“In his dorm,” Katie said, “I think he’s sulking over the goals that he missed.”

Harry nodded, and went up to the boy’s dormitory, where low and behold Ron was. “Did you hear? Me, Fred and George have been banned from Quidditch after what we did to Malfoy.” He said.

“What?” Ron yelped.

“Umbridge.” Was all he had to say.

“How  _ dare  _ she!” Ron rambled. “She’s an utter scumbag!”

Harry avidly agreed. Then he realised something. “She’s really not going to let the DA reform now, with me involved and everything.”

Ron’s eyes widened. “Oh no, you’re right! Oh Harry, this is all my fault..”

“ _ Your  _ fault?” Harry was confused. “You didn’t force me to punch Malfoy.”

“It was that stupid song that wound me up,” Ron said, “it made me miss that penalty shot, did you not hear them singing it during the game? After that, it all went terrible, and they would have catched us up on the goals if you hadn't caught the Snitch.”

“But Ron, that's besides the point, we won!” Harry exclaimed, “and you are not a terrible Keeper. You did really well for your first game. The only terrible Keeper on the pitch was Bletchley.”

“Nah, he was better than me.” Ron said, then continued, “I might hand in my resignation to Angelina first thing tomorrow morning.”

Harry sighed, he knew Ron could get like this. “If you resign, that’ll just add fuel to the Slytherin teams fire,” he replied testly, “and the team will still be down a Keeper.”

“That Vicky girl can have it,” Ron grumbled.

“The same girl who wouldn’t prioritise Quidditch over Charms Club?” Harry said tersely, “That Quidditch book I got you will all be for naught.”

Ron said nothing, but gazed miserably at his bed covers. After a while he decided. “I’ll keep at it then.”

Harry was about to get himself ready for bed, when Dean came into the dorm. “Harry, Professor Black’s wanting to speak to you.”

“Oh, really?” Harry perked up, but then realised it was probably not going to be about his latest Astronomy homework, but that it was going to be about his incident earlier - for he could still see the furious look on his godfathers face whenever he blinked. “Is he downstairs?”

“He’s outside the portrait hole.” Dean replied. Harry, taking a deep breath, went down the stairs back into the common room. As expected, Sirius was standing halfway in the common room. He only smiled slightly at him and gestured for him to come outside.

Harry followed, and Sirius led him to an unused classroom. Harry perched himself on the nearest desk, for he knew this was probably going to be a lengthy talk. 

“Now, I haven’t the faintest idea what on  _ earth _ possessed you to beat up Malfoy, Harry, but all I know is that it was totally out of order. And what do I hear at dinner? That you’ve gone and got yourself a lifetime ban from Quidditch!” Sirius said, not kindly.

Harry gulped. “Fred and George got banned too,” he said weakly.

“Yes, I’m aware, but this is about you, not them.” Sirius said. “What on earth were you thinking, Harry?”

He looked down at his hands. “Didn’t you hear Malfoy? He was insulting Mr and Mrs Weasley, and my mother!”

“You took the bait and rose to his insults, despite knowing that was probably his plan?” Sirius said irately.

“Well, _ someone  _ had to.” Harry said defensively. “I only punched him in the stomach, by the way, it was Fred and George who did most of the beating. Besides, I’m sure  _ you _ wouldn’t stand for it if you heard someone call my mother insulting names and claim she lived in a ‘reeking hovel’.”

Sirius sighed. “Harry, the bigger man would swallow his pride and ignore the insults.”

“ _ Sirius _ , a better man would teach the idiot throwing insults around a lesson.” Harry replied moodily before he could even think. Sirius ran a hand down his face in stress and let out a noise.

“You’re too much like your father for your own good.” Sirius said.

“You’re always saying how that’s a good thing.” Harry grumbled.

“Yeah, well, in this case its cost you the privilege of playing Quidditch, and will probably cost you the DA as well, so look how far it really gets you.” Sirius glared at him.

Feeling overwhelmingly guilty, Harry diverted his eyes anywhere but his godfather. He didn’t even want to think of the possibility of not being able to reform the DA. Surely Umbridge couldn’t take that away from him as well? That reminded Harry. “Do  _ you  _ know who attacked Wayne Hopkins?”

Sirius turned his head sharply. “Yes, they were found trying to escape and were taken to the Ministry.”

Harry flared up. “So why hasn’t the school been told who it was?! What is the need to walk around in groups of two or more if they’ve been caught?!”

“If you calm down, I will tell you.” Sirius said tersely. Harry sighed deeply, and stopped talking.

His godfather’s tone went back to normal. “What I’m about to tell you will most likely be front-page news in the  _ Prophet  _ tomorrow, but nonetheless you should still keep it to yourself until then.” Harry wondered what on earth was the reason for secrecy, but Sirius continued. “The boy who attacked Wayne Hopkins was a seventh year Ravenclaw student, called Francis Selwyn.”

Harry felt a bit underwhelmed - he had never heard of this boy. He thought it would be somebody more well-known. “Aren’t the Selwyn’s pure-bloods?” He was sure he’d heard of them.

“Yes, but this boy is a cousin of the main branch of Selwyn’s - his grandfather is the patriarch of the family, I think.” Sirius said. “Dumbledore gave the boy Veritaserum, and he explained his motives.”

Harry felt a bit nervous. “Which were?”

“He has Death Eater sympathies.”

Harry felt himself numb. A Voldemort supporter was under this roof the whole time that wasn’t Malfoy. He felt a bit terrible that the boy was a Ravenclaw; that House didn’t tend to throw up pure-blood supremacists, and Harry was sure that at least some of the Ravenclaw’s weren’t going to be happy when they heard the news. This Francis boy was mere months from graduating… It was going to be a shock to them, that was for sure.

“Wait, did they ask him if he was also the one who attacked me, Theo and Blaise?” Harry asked frantically.

Sirius’s mouth thinned. “Dumbledore didn’t ask him that.”

“How come?!” Harry raged. “Has he seriously forgotten that we were also victims of an attack?!”

“How about we go and ask him right now?” Sirius offered.

Harry froze. “Really?”

“Yeah, why not? It’s not lights out yet, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Sirius said. Harry reluctantly agreed, not looking forward to seeing the Headmaster.

When Sirius said the password to the office, they stepped in, and were a bit shocked to see Kingsley standing with Dumbledore. The tall man nodded in welcome. “Sirius, Potter,”

“Harry wants to know if a question can be brought to the Francis Selwyn boy,” Sirius explained.

Dumbledore looked uneasy. “I’m assuming it’s regarding the attack on you, Zabini and Nott back in September, and whether or not he was also responsible for that.”

“Yes.” Harry said as politely as he could.

“The boy is currently in the Ministry’s holding cells, however, I’m sure Kingsley can Floo back and put the question to him.” Dumbledore said, gesturing to the Auror, who nodded, and without another word stepped through the fireplace. There was a bit of an awkward silence whilst they waited for him to return. “Lemon drop, gentlemen?” Albus asked.

“No thank you,” Harry replied with the thinnest smile. Sirius took one to be polite.

“I’m sorry about your Quidditch ban, Mr Potter.” The Headmaster said.

_ Oh, are you now?  _ He thought bitterly. “I’m assuming there’s no way you could lift the ban, Professor?” He said meekly.

Dumbledore chuckled unsmiling. “I’m afraid our High Inquisitor is quite adamant on having superiority over all punishments, Mr Potter. I could not revoke it.”

Kingsley returned almost five minutes later, grumbling about how he had to prove to about five people that he wasn’t an imposter trying to break Selwyn free. The man looked a bit grave as he whispered to Dumbledore. After a few moments, Kingsley turned to Harry. “You may not like this answer,” at that, Harry’s heart fell, “but yes, Selwyn was the one who tried to harm you and your two friends in Slytherin. He will also be charged for that.”

Feeling dizzy and dazed, Harry felt like he’d been glued to the floor. He had braced himself to accept that answer, yet it still felt terrible knowing it. He willed his brain back into action. “Oh… Well, it’s a good thing he can’t hurt anyone else now.”

Sirius was now looking extremely sympathetic, as opposed to five minutes ago when he was literally seething. Harry felt himself get clammy. Sirius knew that his godson was taking the news quite badly, so they called it a day and left the office, walking a bit quickly back to Gryffindor common room.

“You’ve had a lot of bad news today, kiddo,” Sirius said as they approached the portrait hole. “Get a nice good sleep, or better yet spend time with your friends to take your mind off it.”

Harry was only barely listening.

When Harry got back into the common room, it was practically deserted; which was a bit weird as they were still celebrating the Quidditch win when he left. Though it was true, he was feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, he wasn’t quite tired yet, so elected to stay up a bit longer. He absentmindedly took a seat in the armchair and stared at his fingers, anything and everything on his mind.

He felt like the biggest twat in the world; getting himself banned from Quidditch, and he couldn’t even fly his Firebolt around anymore, for Umbridge had taken that from him too. He was 80% sure she was also likely to purge the DA from him too, which really weighed him down. All that teaching, all the friendships still being formed.. He didn't want them to be for naught, especially when there were still a good few hundred pupils in the school who weren’t a part of the club.

He simply couldn’t allow the DA to fall far behind. Though they were fast learners, he really wanted to start covering duelling with them as soon as possible; for in Wayne’s situation, it could have saved him from his injuries. Duelling was an important life skill in general, but he’d sleep easier at night knowing that if there were to ever be another attack, and a DA member was targeted, they’d be able to hold the attacker off for long enough to get help.

A thought sprang to him then - what if there was a way to hold DA meetings, but in secret? That would be defying Umbridge and risking expulsion, but Harry couldn’t help but feel a thrill. There was one problem though: where was he going to hold the sessions? He considered all possibilities - a spare classroom? Umbridge would likely hear them, unless he cast a Muting Charm on the room or something… But deemed that too risky. Somewhere in Hogsmeade? Anyone could walk in and go scuttling back to Umbridge. The Shrieking Shack? It was possible, but there was barely enough room to maneuver and space out in there - and both groups of the DA combined were well over a hundred people. Plus, if an Umbridge loyalist like Malfoy saw people congregating towards the Shack, he’d likely find that suspicious, even if they arrived in small droves. The Forbidden Forest? Even if they didn’t go that far in, there was still a chance somebody could see them, and plus, the Junior lot (especially the first and second years) might get scared. Down by the Black Lake would likely be a big no-no too, as half the castle could probably see them by just looking out of a window.

Frustrated, Harry had no clue how else to go about it. He was about to give up the thought when he heard something behind him. Lurching, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was Dobby. “Master Harry!” The elf cried in welcome.

“Dobby!” He grinned, but couldn’t help but notice that layers and layers of Hermione’s SPEW hats were being worn around the elf’s ears. “How are you?”

“Dobby is fine, Master Harry, Dobby is enjoying working for Professor Dumblydore very much, as is Winky.” Dobby replied merrily.

“Oh, is Winky working here as well?” He was surprised to hear that.

“Yes. But Winky is still ever so sad about Mr Crouch. She drinks heavily.” Dobby looked sad then, and Harry felt sad too.

A thought came to Harry then. “Dobby, elves can Apparate inside Hogwarts, right?”

“Yes.” Dobby perked up.

“Good. Also, do you know if there’s any… secret rooms in the castle? Ones that even staff members won’t know about?” He asked eagerly.

Dobby had a thought. “Dobby knows of one, Master Harry. The Come and Go Room.”

“The Come and Go Room?”

“Yes. It’s also known as the Room of Requirement. It changes depending on whatever the seeker wants it to be. I could show you how to get into it, Master Harry?”

He lit up. “That would be great! However we’ll have to be quiet, and make sure nobody’s around.” He sprang up to go and fetch the Marauder’s Map from his dormitory. He opened it up accordingly, and checked it. Filch was on the fourth floor, Mrs Norris on the fifth. Professor Umbridge was in her office, but moving around within it. “What floor is this Room on?”

“The seventh,” Dobby supplied.

“Okay, let’s go to it then.” Harry grinned, not quite believing that the day could get better after the disasters of earlier.

“Hold on tight!” Dobby commanded as Harry grasped the elf’s small hand. He suddenly felt himself be pulled into an Apparition, which was his least favourite method of wizard travel, marginally worse than the Knight Bus. 

They appeared moments later, no longer in the common room, but on the seventh floor. Harry brought the Marauder’s Map to his face again, to make sure they were still okay. Barely anybody had moved. “It should be on the left-hand side…” Dobby was mumbling. Then he lit up again. “Okay, the Room of Requirement is here.”

“But there’s no door?”

“The seeker of the Room has to walk past the entrance three times in order for the door to appear,” Dobby said, and Harry did what he said. After three attempts, a door appeared.

“Wicked!” Harry said quietly. When they walked in, Harry was mesmerised: for as soon as he thought “ _ I need a space to teach the Defence Association _ ”, the room changed. A blackboard appeared, and rows of dummies did too. A bookshelf also magically appeared, with books about Defence and duelling adorning the shelves. Harry had another thought - as the DA had fallen two weeks behind, they would need slightly longer sessions in order to catch up. Three clocks suddenly appeared on the left-hand side. When he went over, one was normal time, the second one instructed him to choose how many hours he needed; he chose two at random, then the third one declared that two hours in the room would pass, yet for everybody else outside the room, time would be normal, and that two hours was only equal to an hour of normal time. This was quite clearly a time delay feature, and he realised he could also use this for studying too: he could get all his homework done in one sitting, without having to sacrifice sleep!

Feeling elated, Harry felt very optimistic now. He couldn’t wait to tell the DA. “Dobby, thank you so much for showing me this!”

“It is no problem at all, Master Harry!” The elf looked very happy too. Checking the Marauder’s Map, Harry lurched a bit when he seen Argus Filch making his way from the sixth floor to the seventh. “Dobby, we need to get back to the common room! Filch is coming!”

“Squib’s cannot find this room unless somebody gives them access to it, Master Harry.” Dobby explained. Harry still felt anxious as he eyed Filch walking onto the exact same corridor they were on. Staying silent just in case, Harry watched him march right past the Room and go down another corridor. Sighing in relief, Harry and Dobby left the Room, and quickly Apparated back into the common room. Saying goodbye to the elf, Harry noticed the time was just after eleven at night, so quietly walked into his dorm and got ready for bed.

Sunday was, as normal, a day where everybody got their homework done. None of the teachers were going easy on them, which meant their weekends were barely spent relaxing anymore. 

At breakfast, Amelia came down with Dorea to the Great Hall and spied that Susan and Hannah were already there. Sitting at Hufflepuff table, they gladly tucked in.

“What homework do we all have to do today then?” Hannah asked, smiling knowingly.

“Every subject except Transfiguration and Muggle Studies,” Amelia answered, Dorea nodding.

“It’s such a pain how they assign us so much,” Susan said, “I haven’t spent a weekend relaxing since October.”

Getting a head start, the four of them worked through Sprout’s Herbology essay regarding Belladonna. Megan soon came down, and quickly ate before getting hers out as well. 

“I still can’t believe that Umbridge gave Harry, Fred and George a ban,” Susan said quietly as Umbridge had just walked past their table.

“It’s utterly unfair,” Dorea agreed, “Malfoy got off scot-free.”

A thought came to Amelia then. “Susan, your aunt is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, right?”

Susan nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you think she knows about how Umbridge is taking over the school?” 

“It’s hard to tell - Fudge barely looks her way and practically leaves her out of meetings. I could send her an owl.”

Amelia lit up. “Oh, that would be grand! She could force Umbridge to nullify the ban.”

Susan grinned, and promised to send it off as soon as possible. The five of them continued working through their Herbology homework, and chatting away. However, Hannah was soon looking over her shoulder. “Dorea,” the girl leaned in closer, “Blaise Zabini is staring at you.”

Dorea glanced up at Hannah, and waited a few moments before turning her head. Amelia turned as well, and Blaise was in fact staring at Dorea. Quickly turning back around, Amelia grinned, “I think he fancies you, Dorea.”

Flushing a bit, Dorea faced them again, “Hardly. He’s our friend.”

They all scoffed. “He was outright staring at you!” Megan whispered excitedly.

Just as their excitement died down, Susan looked at Amelia. “There’s someone staring at you too, Amelia.”

Amelia turned, and caught eyes with Theo Nott, who quickly looked away, though far too quickly. Smirking a bit, she turned back around. “He could have just been wondering what we were saying.”

Hannah and Susan shared a look. “Yeah, sure.”

By eight o’clock that night, Amelia found herself finally done with homework, like everyone else. Everyone in the common room was well and truly exhausted. Hermione was almost falling asleep, whilst Ron looked like he’d done enough work to last a lifetime.  _ To think it’s only going to get worse in sixth and seventh year… _ Amelia shuddered.

As they packed their work away, Harry spoke up. “I think I’ve found somewhere to start the DA up again.”

Intrigued, they perked up. “Has Umbridge given you permission to reform?” Hermione asked.

“No,” Harry replied, “but Dobby showed me a secret room last night that is totally unplottable. It’s called the Room of Requirement. To enter it, you just walk past its entrance three times, where the door appears. When you get into it, it automatically changes to whatever you want it to be. It’s amazing.”

“Brilliant!” Ron said. Amelia and Dorea liked the sound of it too.

“Harry, I don’t know, it sounds risky.” Hermione said. “Umbridge said that you’ll be expelled if she catches you holding secret meetings.”

“If she doesn’t know about this room, she’ll be totally clueless.” Harry reassured her, ”she won’t be able to find us at all. Dobby can Apparate us all there-”

“-When will you ever read  _ Hogwarts: A History _ ? Nobody can Apparate inside Hogwarts, Harry.” Hermione said shrilly.

Harry looked smug. “That’s weird, because that's how Dobby got me there in the first place.”

Hermione took a severe amount of convincing, but whilst grumbling about how they could all get expelled, she agreed. They then had to tell the other DA members: so Harry went around the common room and privately told the Gryffindor DA members about their new plan. They all seemed very excited by the idea. Some were on the same line of thought as Hermione - it being risky, but they soon were convinced.

The next morning at breakfast, the five of them went round all the DA members and told them about the new plan. Quite a few of them had concerns about being caught, but in the end even people like Ernie and Anthony went along with it, as getting time to practise spells was one of their top priorities.

Almost a week on from being attacked, everyone was very surprised when Wayne Hopkins walked into History of Magic first thing on Monday morning, almost looking as good as new. That period, not even Harry worked, and soon enough the whole class was ignoring Binns and focusing on Wayne instead.

“I cannot use magic at all until my core heals,” Wayne said.

“What’s a core?” Justin wondered.

“Magical core. It’s what every witch and wizard is born with; it’s where all our magical ability is stored.” Ernie answered for them. “It’s naturally quite strong, but if you are ever attacked or tortured via magic so badly, it can weaken it to the point of destruction, meaning that you could become a Squib essentially.” Amelia noticed Neville went a bit pale at that.

“Mine’s been weakened quite badly, but not severely. I can’t physically use magic for two more weeks or so, which means I’m kind of screwed class-wise.” Wayne continued.

“You can still learn the theory of spells, though?” Susan asked.

Wayne nodded. “Yeah, and practise them when my core heals up. I’m going to be so behind it’s unreal…”

Amelia found it a bit odd when, at lunch, the owls finally arrived with the newest  _ Daily Prophet  _ edition. Everyone else seemed to be confused as to why they were so delayed, as they almost always arrived in the morning. When Hermione paid for hers and laid it out on the table, Amelia braced herself for another smear campaign against her twin brother, yet was quite surprised to see the headline:  **“** **_HOGWARTS STUDENT ARRESTED FOR ATTACKS AGAINST FELLOW STUDENTS: IS IT TIME FOR DUMBLEDORE TO RESIGN?”_ **

“They’ve arrested the attacker?” Ron exclaimed.

The article read:

“ _ The Ministry of Magic received a shock when, last Tuesday, Auror’s were called to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the premise that a student had gone missing at lunch. The student in question: Wayne Hopkins, fifth year Hufflepuff, was found severely beaten up in a second-floor corridor at the school after being missing for almost two hours. _

_ After an extensive interrogation, the story was verified by use of memories and Veritaserum: Wayne Hopkins was indeed attacked - by a seventh year Ravenclaw student named Francis Selwyn, who placed Hopkins under Imperius Curse. The motive for attacking Mr Hopkins in particular is unclear.  _

_ “Minister Fudge has proven to be very generous to Hopkins’s family, as when he was alerted to it, he immediately made sure the boys family was informed and compensated,” a Ministry spokesperson has claimed, “he has since visited the family at their home in Devon, and has exclaimed outrage at Headmaster Dumbledore once again; claiming that the Headmaster didn’t put in place tougher security measures. Minister Fudge has also criticised the latest mandatory rule for Hogwarts students - which is that nobody is allowed to walk the halls alone, - as he says in his own words that it is ‘no better than a scaremongering attempt’ and that ‘students have a right to know who the bloody assailant was, at least.’ _

_ Francis Selwyn, the boy responsible, was immediately arrested after the incident and is currently awaiting trial to determine his sentence. Questioned under Veritaserum, the boy declared his motives, which were simply shocking: Selwyn declared he has Death Eater sympathies, and intentions to harm anyone not with this ideology. _

_ On Saturday it was also discovered that the boy was also responsible for another incident back in September; where none other than Harry Potter was one of the students involved. Naturally, we find this quite dubious, but Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt insists he asked this question to Selwyn under Veritaserum, so it seems to be true. _

_ Naturally, our reader’s correspondence has been strife since this story leaked. “I am simply outstanded that Dumbledore had no idea a student with views such as Selwyn’s were right under his roof.’ says concerned parent Mrs McNully. _

_ ‘The fact that this boy has attacked four students on two separate occasions is frankly, quite glaring, and shows Dumbledore’s ineptitude. His priorities are clearly not sorted out. Parents should come together and sign a petition for Dumbledore to resign his post as Headmaster.’ writes Mr Lucius Malfoy.” _

Amelia had read enough. Harry had stopped reading too. When she glanced up at Ravenclaw table, she felt disheartened when a good handful of students were openly glaring at Harry. Thankfully, no DA members were among them, although some people such as Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot and Hope Geddes were looking a bit uneasy. There was a clear congregation of outrage amongst the sixth and seventh year Ravenclaws; clearly, Francis was a popular student, and they were naturally defending their friend. Marietta Edgecombe was among them, but oddly enough Cho wasn’t.

“It might be best not to sit with them at dinner tonight,” Ron mentioned, “they look quite divided.

Yet after another very boring Defence lesson spent reading, they soon did just that when they came into the Great Hall for dinner: for they looked to Ravenclaw table and saw Tulip Karasu clutching her hand - which was wrapped in a bandage, yet it was bleeding quite drastically. She was trying quite hard to hide it. Amelia, Dorea and Harry shared one glance and one glance only; they knew exactly what had caused that.

Sitting at Ravenclaw table with the fourth year, Amelia could feel people staring. She didn’t care though. “Umbridge?” she said to the red-haired girl.

Tulip’s eyes widened a bit. “How’d you guess?”

“She’s had us in countless detentions.” Dorea said.

Harry reached into his bag. “When it dries, apply this Burn-Healing Paste to it, and it’ll cover it up almost completely.”

Tulip accepted the squeezy bottle, though still looked a bit uncertain. “Thanks.”

“What does she have you write with the blood quill?” Dorea asked quietly.

“‘ _ I must not misbehave’”  _ Tulip replied, blinking twice. “It’s more when she catches me pranking in the corridors and what not. But she has me in detention when I talk during her bore-fest classes too.”

“Can’t blame you for that,” Harry chuckled. Tulip smiled. Soon enough they got talking with each other: Tulip was still mesmerised with Harry’s discovery of the Room of Requirement, and liked how rebellious the idea of secretly defying Umbridge was, even though it risked expulsion.

Tulip was telling them about her parents when a seventh year Ravenclaw suddenly came storming down the table towards them. Amelia braced herself for a confrontation, even though it was likely to be aimed at Harry.

“Karasu, why on earth are you speaking to  _ them _ ?” The tall, brunette girl snarled, gesturing to the three of them.

Dorea and Amelia straightened. “They’re my friends, Anna.” Tulip said shrilly.

“It’s quite clear your presence is not wanted at our table, Potter. Partly thanks to you, Francis’s life is  _ ruined!  _ In tatters! He’ll likely be in prison for a long time, and never be able to achieve his life goals, and it’s  _ all your fault _ !” The girl ranted, screeching quite loudly, which had caused the attention of people sitting nearby to be on them.

“Are you forgetting your precious Francis admitted he has Death Eater sympathies?” Dorea piped up defensively, reminding everyone in the near vicinity that she was indeed a Black.

Professor Flitwick was soon on the scene. “Miss O’Brien, please calm yourself down this instant-”

“-No, Professor, I won’t! Don’t you see?! It’s all Potter’s fault that Francis is getting wrongly sent to Azkaban! Francis would never do anything like this! Potter is an utter arse and is ruining the school!” The girl continued rambling in a mad haze.

“Ten points from Ravenclaw for swearing, Miss O’Brien. And another five points for spewing utter rubbish. If you do not want to lose more, I suggest you leave the hall this instant.” Professor Flitwick demanded. The Anna girl sighed in frustration, and with one more glare aimed at them, strode from the Great Hall in a right bad mood. Professor Flitwick apologised to them, but they shook their heads and insisted they were fine.

Up at the staff table, Sirius had just watched the exchange happen. He’d half-expected that some Ravenclaw’s would be very angry at Harry, for he was part of the reason why Francis Selwyn was likely getting rightfully thrown in Azkaban, but nonetheless he still went into protective mode when the seventh year girl went over. He’d been a bit confused beforehand when he seen his godson hand Tulip Karasu what looked like a bottle of some sort, but he shook it off; that was their business, not his.

As dinner was finishing up, Sirius was reminded of something. He regretfully approached Dolores. “Have you made your mind up regarding my godson’s club?” He asked her.

Dolores Umbridge smiled at him, although the little toad looked mirthful. “Not yet, Sirius, but I am close to making a decision. I can tell that the club has not been meeting in secret, so that has satisfied me. If that can be kept up for five more days, I will gladly let it reform.”

Sirius blinked. “Five more days?”

“Yes, Sirius.” Umbridge confirmed.

He sighed. Sirius knew it was worthless arguing with her. “Just make sure you do let the club reform again; else I do not know what my godson will say or do when you take that away from him as well.” He said, his voice getting a bit reproachful at the end.

Dolores Umbridge giggled like a schoolgirl. “I have every confidence that Mr Potter will refrain from holding secret meetings behind my back, Sirius. This is just a test for him - which he looks on course to pass. Since he is giving me no cause for concern, he will have his club reinstated in no time.”

_ I doubt that very much, Dolores,  _ Sirius thought,  _ if you had your way, Harry’s club would be banned forever.  _ Sirius just ended up nodding, and went on his way back up to his quarters in the Astronomy Tower.

Harry felt a sense of excitement as he held the first Junior DA session in the Room of Requirement that night, at the slightly later time of half-past seven. He felt so good rebelling against Professor Umbridge that he couldn’t stop smiling.

That session was spent catching up and perfecting the spells they had learned a few weeks ago; mainly the Levitation Charm, which was quite handy in a situation where you needed to banish something towards an opponent, and they started on the Banishing Charm too. The first and second years struggled with that a bit, so Harry split the four year groups; first and second years staying to one side of the room, and the third and fourth years to another, so they could concentrate on spells more suited to their ability and year. Instead of the Banishing Charm, Harry had the first and second years focus on the Tongue-Tying Curse and the Tickling Charm, which was a useful spell to use in duels. In the last twenty minutes of the session they even got the magical dummies out and practised on them, which was very effective. When the session was over, Dobby (and a few other house-elves who agreed to Apparate everyone to their dorms to avoid suspicion) soon transported everyone back. 

“Great session, Harry,” Hermione had said, grinning. “I must say - it  _ does _ feel good going behind Umbridge’s back after all.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?” Ron said jokingly.

Harry checked the Marauder’s Map, and felt satisfied when he saw everyone appear back in their respective dormitories, with Filch and most importantly, Umbridge sat in their offices none the wiser. He folded the Map back up when Dobby came back to collect them.

“Hold on tight!” Dobby said to Harry and Ron, as they were rather unpleasantly pulled into an Apparition by their navels. They soon arrived back in their empty dorms. Feeling accomplished, Harry went to bed, feeling very accomplished following the successful session. He hoped the Senior’s session on Saturday went as smoothly.


	17. Hagrid's Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: December rolls around, and with it some drama.

The next day was pretty jam-packed, as Flitwick, McGonagall and Grubbly-Plank all assigned homework for the fifth years that Tuesday. It had usually been common practise for all of them to do their homework in the common room, but with Fred and George constantly testing their products, as well as people talking loudly, it soon became impossible to do it in there anymore. 

Straight after dinner, Amelia, Ginny, Ron and Dorea went to Quidditch practise, and Harry felt forlorn as he watched them walk away down to the pitch without him. Harry decided that he was going to get his homework done in the library; so Hermione walked him there before going back to the common room to knit more hats for the house-elves. 

Finding a spare table near the back of the room, he sat down and got to work. He finished off Professor Babbling’s multiple choice questions before moving on to the Charm’s worksheets Flitwick had assigned, which took almost an hour. His Care of Magical Creatures homework wasn’t due for another week, and neither was his Transfiguration work, so he got his Arithmancy work out and decided to revise what he and Vector went over last week.

Harry got quite frustrated with himself when, after forty minutes, he still wasn’t getting anything. Vector had said that number significance was pretty hard at OWL level, but he hadn’t realised  _ how _ hard, as nothing was making sense. 

“Sorry, are any of these seats taken?” He heard someone say. Looking up, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw two people standing across from him. He recognised them from the Junior DA group; Liz Tuttle, a fourth year Slytherin, and Badeea Ali, fourth year Ravenclaw.

“No, not at all, feel free to sit there.” He replied, gesturing to the empty seats across the table.

The two girls sat, smiling gratefully. “The library’s packed, every other table’s taken.” Badeea said.

Harry smiled. “It’s totally fine.”

Liz Tuttle looked at him. “You look quite stressed, Potter.”

“Arithmancy.” Was all he had to say, as the two girls cringed. 

“I would like to take it, but it’s always on at the same time as Divination.” Liz said.

“Oh, you take Divination?” Harry didn’t know that.

“Yeah, my mum’s actually a Seer. She’s not batty like Trelawney, but she only gets visions ever so often.” Liz explained.

Harry found that interesting, though Divination was by far his least favourite subject. He was soon forgetting his Arithmancy work, as Liz and Badeea were very easy to talk to. Liz was fascinated with magical creatures, and wanted to be a Magizoologist when she graduated, and also someone who could campaign for greater creature rights. Harry thought she’d get on great with Hermione, as they had something in common regarding creatures. Badeea, he was surprised to learn, was a very talented artist: she showed him a whole book filled with both sketches and paintings; some of the paintings were even magical. Badeea even wanted to create her own spells one day, which Harry thought was very fascinating.

At eight, the two girls had to leave, and once again Harry was confronted with his hellish Arithmancy work again which he had previously abandoned. He was halfway to giving up when another familiar face greeted him.

“Oh, hello Harry.” Susan Bones smiled, and went to sit across from him.

“Hey,” Harry greeted the girl. A thought came to him then. “Do you take Arithmancy?”

Susan grinned. “Yeah, I do. You take it as well, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “I’m not in the class though. I have private lessons with Vector on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.”

Susan eyed him knowingly. “I can tell you’re finding the topic of number significance pretty tough going.”

He flushed a bit, but remembered that Susan was a friend, and that there was no shame in slightly struggling. “Yeah, I’m finding it pretty hard. Nothing’s sticking.”

“I read up on it during the summer,” Susan said, “I could give you a hand with it, if you want?”

Harry lit up. “Hallelujah! I’d love that!”

Susan sat next to him to make it easier. They spent until nine o’clock going over the information in  _ Numerology and Grammatica _ about number significance, and Susan was really helpful; she explained every bullet point in her own words, which was much easier and simpler, and even told him helpful study methods, such as flashcards and mnemonics, that he was sure would definitely aid in the revision process. They were eventually ushered out of the library by Madam Pince as it was almost closing time. He said farewell to Susan as she went back to Hufflepuff common room. Almost straight after, more familiar faces came round the corner.

“Potter!” Blaise and Theo called out.

“Evening, fellas!” He grinned. He then felt a bit bad, as he hadn’t been spending as much time with them or even speaking to them as much as he liked.

“You look a bit windswept,” Theo pointed out, “have you been to the library?”

“Yeah, I did a bit of homework, and tried to get Arithmancy into my head. Susan helped me with it.” Harry replied.

The two boys nodded. They didn’t take Arithmancy as far as he knew. “We were actually wondering to ask you something.”

Harry perked up. “Oh?”

“Professor Snape is going to open up Dungeon Five and let students use it on the weekends for brewing and stuff. We were wondering if you’d like to join us there one day - say Saturday afternoon before DA, or Sunday?” Theo explained.

“I’d love to! It’ll have to be Sunday, as there’s a quidditch match Saturday and DA in the evening.” He replied enthusiastically. He really needed to brew more Bruisewort Balm, as his supply was getting low. “Can I invite a few more people? I think Dorea and Amelia would like to come, maybe Ron as well.”

He noticed that Blaise and Theo let out the smallest smirks when he mentioned Dorea and Amelia’s respective names. “Yeah, that would be fine, there’s plenty of space in there anyway.” Blaise nodded. They spoke for a few minutes before the two of them had to get back to Slytherin common room, so he said farewell before he summoned Dobby to Apparate him back to Gryffindor Tower.   
When he told the Fat Lady the password and clambered through, he found Amelia and Dorea, looking absolutely exhausted, flat out on the couches. "How was Quidditch practise then?" Harry asked.   
"Don't even want to talk about it." Dorea replied gruffly. Her long wavy black hair was looking very windswept and almost tangled in places.   
"We are so losing on Saturday." Amelia grimaced. "And if Roger Davies scores a winning goal before I can catch the Snitch, I might have to kill myself."   
Angelina and Katie then appeared. "Where's Ron?" He asked.   
"He went straight up to your dorm, he's not in the best mood." Angelina stated.   
"Why?"   
"Because a Bludger hit him square in the face and chest, plus," Katie started, but then done a quick survey of the common room before quieting her voice, "Kirke accidentally chucked his beaters bat, and it narrowly missed Ron, but it almost caused Ron to tumble off his broom."    
"Plus, Alicia's been signed off for three months." Amelia added to the bad atmosphere more.   
"What? Oh my god, what happened to her?" Harry was very surprised. It sounded as if Alicia got attacked by the Whomping Willow - what on earth kind of accident did she have in practise to not be allowed to play for 3 months?   
"Well, you know how Parkinson and her Slytherin's who aren't in the DA are constantly picking on those who are?" Katie said. "Well, we were just doing some warm-up exercises when Alicia started jinxing everywhere - it was exactly what happened to your broom in first year, Harry - anyway, it was a lot more severe than what happened to you - and before we knew it she was zooming towards the side of the teachers stand - which is a very hard metal."   
"Ouch." Harry winced. "Is she going to be okay though?"   
"We hope so, but she broke her collarbone, wrist and elbow. Madam Pomfrey says that's not the worse bit - she's got quite a bad concussion. You should have heard Madam Hooch screaming at Pansy though, so satisfying." Dorea replied.   
Harry felt rather deflated now. Even with Dorea playing as a substitute Chaser, they would still have to work extremely hard to win against Ravenclaw.    
"When can we go see her?"   
"Madam Pomfrey says tomorrow, but I don't know when I'll get the chance." Angelina sighed.   
"I'm going to find Ron, I'll see you all later." Harry said, before climbing the staircase to the fifth year boy's dorm.   
He heard Ron grumbling before he even opened the door. "We are so screwed for Saturday, mate." Was all Ron said. Dean and Neville looked very sympathetic, whilst for some reason the curtains around Seamus's bed were already drawn.   
"Oh Ron, shut up." Harry didn't know for how much longer he could take having to put up with Ron's self disbelief. "I heard about Alicia."   
"Yeah, that was all Pansy's fault, she's the one who did the jinxing. Hooch was furious." Ron replied. "I don't know why Angelina just won't let me resign."   
"It's because you are good, Ron!" Harry insisted. "On Saturday, cast a silencing charm at the crowd if you have to to keep focus, but just keep calm and keep your eye on the quaffle. That Quidditch book probably shows you hints and tips about which hoop to guard depending on the Chasers body language, so read up on that and it should prepare you."    
"Be thankful I'm not on the team, Ron, especially not Keeper." Neville said in an attempt to cheer Ron up.   
"What's up with Seamus?" Harry whispered to Dean, motioning towards the drawn curtains.   
"He's been at it all day - practising his Transfiguration work. And I think he's starting to come round - y'know, in terms of wanting to apologise to you. He also said to me that the DA looks good, and when I told him how fun it actually was it perked him up." Dean explained, also keeping his voice down.   
"Suppose progress is progress," Harry said, "I'll just wait and see what he does. He can apologise whenever he wants to. I don't want this feud to go on forever, I've always wanted to be a good friend to him."   
"Likewise, mate. It's quite hard, believing you but not wanting to cause a crack in my friendship with him. I'll drop him subtle hints every now and then." Dean spoke, before smiling and turning back to folding his robes.   
Seamus must've had magical hearing, because the next day when they were lining up outside Herbology, he spoke about how sorry he was about the comments he made and stuck his hand out for Harry to shake. Harry gladly shook it, and Seamus sat with them again, instead of his old seat at the far end of the greenhouse. Dean looked very happy that they had regained the friendship - he could now talk to both easily without having to worry about setting Seamus off. Harry also explained to him where they were up to in the DA, and what he would have to catch up on, but Seamus was very eager to learn and play catch-up, so Harry gave him the Gryffindor sign-up sheet to sign. Harry then tore a spare bit of parchment out of his book (to the despair of Hermione) before writing a list of spells they had learned to do for Seamus to practise. They were talking very happily amongst themselves that Professor Sprout threatened to change the seating plan as she was telling them to be quiet every two minutes. He also mentioned to Seamus about the Room of Requirement, and how they were openly rebelling against Dolores Umbridge. He was practically in awe of the new Harry. 

The next morning at breakfast, Amelia and Dorea were among the few people already down in the Great Hall. The two of them were still quite exhausted from Angelina’s Quidditch practise last night; since they were Reserve’s coming on to the official team, she worked them twice as hard as the others to make sure they were up to her desired standard for Ravenclaw on Saturday.

They were eventually joined by Daphne, Tracey and Astoria, who plonked themselves down at Gryffindor table. The three girls looked mirthful.

“Dorea Black,” Astoria said,

“What-” Dorea looked between them.

“Blaise Zabini has _ the _ largest crush on you,” Daphne carried on.

“Yeah, like, the biggest ever.” Tracey finished.

Amelia smirked. She had noticed that out of all their new friends, Blaise seemed quite taken with Dorea. However, she knew that Blaise’s pining would be for naught, as Dorea was in a happy relationship with Fred. She hoped Blaise would respect that.

“Oh nonsense,” Dorea half-growled, “he’s our friend.”

“Friends don’t tend to stare at you.” Daphne pointed out, grinning in glee.

Dorea sighed, but smiled nonetheless. “He can fancy me all he wants, I’m taken.”

Thursday classes went about as normal as ever; more homework was assigned, but not as much. Professor Burbage wanted an essay on Muggle school subjects for two weeks today, which Amelia could probably leave until the day before it was due anyway (Muggle Studies was an easy breeze for her). Everyone was quite shocked when Professor Umbridge finally assigned them work to do: One essay on the contents of chapter one to three, and another essay about chapters four to seven, regarding the dumbed-down textbook she assigned them to read every period. Everybody knew that they were two pointless essays, but most would probably do it anyway.

It was in double Potions at the end of the day that things started going pear-shaped. They started on yet another new potion (though not new to her, Dorea and Harry): The Befuddlement Draught. As usual, the three of them were very quick at getting every ingredient prepared before igniting the cauldron, and even Neville had started doing the same. In fact, you could almost call the classroom atmosphere quite serene and calm, until Professor Umbridge came knocking, and had a quiet word with Snape as they were working. Amelia got quite a fright when Crabbe came up behind Harry and threw a handful of Sneezewort into the cauldron - which was only just reaching the simmering stage - which ultimately proved disaster. As soon as Harry got his wand out to most likely perform  _ Laxo,  _ Snape and Umbridge both were over straight away.

“Potter, you are not meant to be using magic in this room! Ten points from Gryffindor!” Snape barked, causing everyone to look over. Malfoy was laughing, and Crabbe looked triumphant.

“Professor, Crabbe threw a bunch of Sneezewort into my cauldron.” Harry explained.

Even with their whole table sticking up for Harry, Snape was having none of it. He even believed Crabbe when the boy said he hadn’t done anything. “Since your potion is now ruined, you’ll be getting a 0.” The grubby man snarled.

They all rolled their eyes (even Snape did) when Umbridge piped up. “ _ Hem-hem,” _

“Yes?” Snape said expectantly.

“For falsely accusing Mr Crabbe of tampering with his Potion, I say the next time he does this, have him spend a week's worth of detentions with me. It’s quite marvelous that Mr Potter hasn’t learned his lesson about telling lies.” Umbridge said. Amelia had to bite her tongue in order to not retaliate.

Just as Umbridge was about to leave, Snape left them temporarily in order to walk her to the door. However, a bezoar had now landed into Amelia’s potion, and also Harry’s, Dorea’s and Neville’s. As soon as they protested, Snape hurled back around. “What is this mess?!”

Pansy, as well as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, were now holding back laughter. “They chucked a bezoar into our potions!” Dorea pointed.

Snape just wouldn’t hear them out. Even though the people guilty of throwing the ingredients in themselves were laughing vigorously, the Potions Master was turning a blind eye. As soon as Snape said to her, Dorea and Neville that their Befuddlement Draughts were also getting zero’s, Professor Umbridge said, “That’ll be another weeks worth of detentions for you three. My office, usual time, Monday next week.”

Defeated and angry, Amelia gave up as she watched her potion vanish. Neville looked utterly gutted. “It was going so well…” Hermione and Ron looked angry on their behalf, as did Seamus and Dean. Just before the bell rang, Professor Snape called out from the front of the classroom. “As soon as your Befuddlement Draught’s are cooled, bottled and labelled, bring them up to the front for marking. Those delinquents whose potions failed miserably, your homework is to write an essay on what a  _ proper _ Befuddlement Draught should look like, including its ingredients, brewing instructions, appearance, properties and uses, for Monday. No less than 20 inches.”

To put it fairly, Harry, Amelia and Dorea were not in a good mood as they walked to the Great Hall for dinner. Another week's worth of detentions… Amelia was cursing Umbridge in her head; of course she just had to be in Potions that period. Amelia had half-thought that they could possibly be let off if they went to Professor McGonagall, if they told their side of the story… But then remembered that Professor Umbridge held supreme authority over all punishments, so quickly dropped that idea. Asking Dolores Umbridge to let them off detention would be akin to asking Dumbledore to shave his beard off. She looked with remorse over at Slytherin table, where the tamperers in question were holding court, looking victorious.

The only consolation was that Angelina and Katie sat down near them and explained that Alicia was awake - quite sore, obviously, but conscious and responsive. That was great news to hear, as she had gone crashing into the metal that was on the side of the teachers stand and received hefty injuries because of it. Amelia still cringed every time she heard the noise replay in her head of Alicia crashing into the stands. However, Angelina also said that Alicia was still not allowed to play Quidditch for three months.

It was simply quite odd when, about halfway during dinner, did Katie Bell run from the hall all of a sudden, hands clamped over her mouth as if she was holding in vomit. Angelina went running after her straight away. “What on earth’s wrong with her?” Ron said as he swallowed some pie.

Dorea pointed over at the Slytherin table all of a sudden. “Pansy.”

Pansy Parkinson, and a group of Slytherin girls, were all sat stifling laughter, and one of them had their wand out. They didn’t even notice Professor McGonagall striding from the staff table, but they felt satisfaction when she ordered the group of girls out of the hall; clearly she thought them involved too. 

When Angelina came back almost fifteen minutes later, she looked furious. “Katie’s somehow swallowed Armadillo Bile.”

“Eh? How’s that gotten into her food?” Dean piped up, suddenly not wanting to eat his supper.

“Pansy.” Amelia told him. “They clearly put it in when she wasn’t looking.”

Their answer was confirmed when Professor McGonagall strolled back in, and came towards them. “Miss Parkinson and her friends did put the bile into Miss Bell’s drink by using the Levitation Charm, which has caused her to become very sick indeed. They will be punished, I can assure you. God only knows how they got a hold of the Armadillo Bile... I am afraid that Miss Bell won’t be able to play Quidditch this Saturday.”

Ginny perked up. “I guess that means I’m on the team now.”

“Yes.” McGonagall said, before looking to the team Captain. “I do hope your Reserve’s have been practising as well, Miss Johnson, as we’re going to have a tough time against Ravenclaw if not.”

Angelina nodded. Satisfied, McGonagall went back up to the staff table.

Back in the common room, the five of them (though they soon invited Neville over, as he had to do it as well) occupied a table near the window, as Hermione and Ron helped them write the essay Snape had assigned: seeming as they probably weren’t going to get another opportunity to do it over the weekend. It took quite a while, as Snape wanted it at least twenty inches long, which was quite annoying as there was only a page of information on it in the textbook. In fact, it was almost eleven when they reached the conclusion, which they somehow had to make three inches long in order to meet the length. They got there in the end though, and by that time the common room was deserted. Neville thanked them lots before retiring to his dormitory for the evening.

“I’ve been thinking,” Ron said as they were packing up. 

“About what?” Dorea wondered.

“I’m going to be so lousy against Ravenclaw at the weekend, I just know it. I’ll make a total fool of myself…” Ron said.

“Oh pack it in,” Harry said sternly, “you’re not bad at all, Ron, we’ve had this discussion. Just ignore the crowd and you’ll be golden.”

“Easier said than done,” Ron countered, “it’s hard enough to simply ignore them, they just seem to get louder whenever I do that, and it ends up distracting me.”

They spent a good few minutes convincing Ron that he wasn’t a bad Keeper in the slightest, and he eventually found heart again. 

“Oh my gosh!” Hermione gasped all of a sudden.

“What?” They all parroted.

“Hagrid’s back!”

They immediately scrambled towards the window that Hermione was standing at, and low and behold, Rubeus Hagrid was indeed making his way towards his hut with Fang in tow. 

With a moment of inspiration, Harry went up to the boys dorm and quietly got his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder’s Map out from his trunk. He had no clue how all five of them were going to fit under the Cloak, but he was sure they’d give it a good try. Within two minutes they were all under it; though they did have to reposition the cloak a few times to cover them all perfectly, but Harry did have the Map to hand as well - so long as they weren’t spotted, they’d be fine.

When they eventually got out onto the castle grounds, Harry felt his heart leap when he finally saw light coming out of the windows of Hagrid’s Hut and smoke emitting from his chimney. He was sure the man would have an interesting tale to tell them. When they reached the front door at last, they gladly straightened up after being in a crouching position for the last ten minutes. Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door three times, to which Fang started barking frantically. “Hagrid, it’s us!”

“Shoulda known,” He heard Hagrid say gruffly.

They all grinned at each other when the bolt on the door was drawn back, and the door creaked open, Hagrid’s face soon appearing, though they were very concerned when they saw it.

Hagrid’s thick hair was almost matted with congealed blood, and his left eye was almost swollen; all around it was purple, and it looked as narrow as an arrow slit. He had multiple cuts and semi-fresh wounds all over his arms and body, and to top it all off he had a limp.

“What on earth happened to you?” Amelia asked, as soon as the Cloak came off them.

“It’s nuthin’! What are you five doing up so late anyway? T’is almost midnight!” Hagrid insisted firmly.

“Your face looks half-minced.” Dorea added.

“And where on earth were you for two months?” Ron concluded the questioning.

“It’s all been dealt wi’, alright? Now, who wants a cuppa?” Hagrid said, brushing off all concerns for his welfare as he slapped a bloody steak right over his left eye. The five of them suddenly felt very uncomfortable as the blood from the meat started dripping down Hagrid’s face and into his beard.

“So are you going to tell us what happened to you, and where you went?” Hermione demanded.

“Can’t, top secret.” Was Hagrid’s response. However, despite himself, Hagrid was soon telling them all about his adventure. He had gone to the mountains of France with Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, with the objective being to recruit the Giants to fight against the Death Eaters. He explained how they had to give the Gurg - chief giant - gifts in order to be accepted into the camp, and how the giants initially liked them, but that all changed when the Gurg was killed by another giant, and that one took over as Gurg. The new Gurg: Golgomath, had hung Hagrid upside down by his feet, and would have done more had Madame Maxime not cast the Conjunctivitis Curse. However, the giants hated it when wizards used magic against them, so they had to run from the camp and basically admit defeat. It had all been for naught anyway, sadly, as they had sighted a Death Eater known as Macnair visiting Golgomath, and the giant seemed to accept him.

“So the giants are going to fight for Voldemort instead of our side?” Dorea asked.

Hagrid shuddered slightly at the use of that name. “Aye, think so.”

Harry was just about to tell Hagrid about his Dementor incident with Dudley when there was a rapping sound on the door. They could see the shadow, and knew instantly who it was. “It’s Umbridge!” Ron whispered frantically.

Harry whipped the cloak back out and ushered them under again, whilst telling Hagrid to hide the mugs of tea. He hurried to do just that - putting them beside Fang’s basket and under a blanket. Then he opened the door, whilst they were crouched in a corner under the Invisibility Cloak.

“So, you’re Rubeus Hagrid, correct?” Umbridge said, as she immediately wandered into the cabin.

“Er, yeah,” Hagid replied, “who are you?”

“I’m Dolores Umbridge.” their Defence teacher replied.

“Aren’t yeh from the Ministry?”

“I am, however, I am now employed as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Hogwarts High Inquisitor.” Umbridge’s eyes were sweeping all around the hut, and she twice looked over to the corner where they were tucked under the protection of the Invisibility Cloak.

“Wha’s a High Inquisitor?” Hagrid asked, his eyes flickering towards them.

“There are five sets of footprints leading from the castle entrance down to your cabin,” Umbridge said slyly, ignoring Hagrid’s question entirely. Hermione let out a muffled gasp.

“Oh, really? Somebody must’ve came ter call earlier an’ I missed ‘em.” said Hagrid.

“Yet there are no footsteps walking in the other direction to suggest that they left.”

“Well, I… I don’t know ‘bout that… I’m only just back, ye see.”

Umbridge did an inspection of the cabin then; everywhere from looking under the bed, table and in the cupboards. She shooed Fang away with a look of distaste as the ginormous dog walked circles around her, sniffing and trying to lick. 

“Where have you been anyway? Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues have been informed of your whereabouts.” Umbridge asked cooly.

“I’ve been away for me health.”

“For your health,” Umbridge replied slowly, as if she didn’t believe it in the slightest.

“Bit o’ fresh air, yeh know,”

“Yes, as a gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by.” Umbridge said sweetly. Hagrid flushed a bit.

“You ought to know that as High Inquisitor it is my necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers to make sure they’re up to standard. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough.” Umbridge hoisted her handbag a bit higher into the crook of her arm as she marched to the door.

“Inspecting?”

“Yes, the Ministry of Magic is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers. Goodnight, Hagrid.”

With that, the door closed behind the High Inquisitor. They waited a few moments to make sure she wasn’t sticking around before coming out from the Cloak when Hagrid confirmed she was indeed walking back up to the castle.

“Blimey, she’s inspecting people..” Hagrid said in a low voice.

“Yeah, Trelawney’s been put on probation already. Reckon it’ll be any day now she’ll get the sack.” Ron said.

“Has Sirius been inspected yet?” Hermione asked Dorea.

Before Dorea could even answer, Hagrid almost spat his tea out. “Eh?  _ Sirius _ ? Why would Sirius be ‘ere…” then it clicked, “Is Sirius a teacher?”

They realised that Hagrid had been gone since the end of August, so would probably have had no clue. “Yeah, he’s the Astronomy teacher. Professor Sinistra is on a sabbatical.” Amelia answered.

“Blinkin’ nora…” Hagrid then chuckled. “I can imagine him being a good one, mind you..”

Harry got the Marauder’s Map back out, and waited until Umbridge was safely in her office before they left Hagrid’s cabin with farewells. As soon as they were safely back inside the common room, Hermione was adamant that she was going to draw up safe lesson plans for Hagrid, as Hagrid’s idea of a normal lesson with ‘fun’ (slightly dangerous) creatures would most likely end up with him getting put on probation as well. However, it appeared not to have worked, for in Care of Magical Creatures next day (with Hagrid now back teaching) whilst they were studying the Thestrals (the winged skeletal horses that only Harry had been able to see pulling the carriages at the start of the year), Umbridge turned up to inspect, with both Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson taking great delight in telling the Defence teacher how incompetent Hagrid was, to Harry’s immense frustration. 

On Saturday was the third Quidditch match of the season, and it was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Harry felt weird, for he was finally spectating his own house’s match in the stands, whereas before it would always be him out there playing. In fact, force of habit meant that he’d almost gone into the changing rooms to get ready for the match, until Madam Hooch reminded him of his lifetime ban. Now he was up in the stands, with Hermione, Fred and George, and instead he’d be watching his own twin sister be Seeker, whilst his godsister was playing Chaser. It was quite chilly, even with a hoodie, jacket, scarf and gloves on, and more snow had fallen overnight.

“Go on Gryffindor!” He shouted out as the players walked out onto the pitch. The Gryffindor team consisted of Angelina, Dorea, Ginny, Amelia, Ron, and the two Beater’s Sloper and Kirke. He didn’t quite know how good the latter two were; he knew they were sixth years but not much else. The Ravenclaw team looked very strong. As always, Roger Davis was Captain, and Cho was the usual Seeker. He couldn’t wait to see how Cho and Amelia played. One of the Ravenclaw Chasers was Skye Parkin: from none other than the famous Parkin family, who was a sixth year. Their Keeper was new this year: Andre Egwu, fourth year. He wasn’t a DA member, but Harry secretly wished he was, for he knew that Andre knew a lot of people that were in the club.

The match was soon underway, and Dorea had already caught the Quaffle. Angelina and Ginny stayed close near her, and the three of them went soaring towards Ravenclaw’s end. Skye Parkin was about to perform a tackle on her, but Dorea ducked at the last moment and passed the Quaffle to Ginny as she was dodging. Ginny caught it, and soon tore away whilst Parkin was still distracted and the stands practically shook when Ginny launched the Quaffle through the one hoop Egwu wasn’t guarding, immediately putting Gryffindor in the lead.

“Beautiful broom and teamwork from Black and Weasley there! Superb! Gryffindor 10, Ravenclaw nill!” Lee Jordan declared ecstatically. Harry knew that Sirius, over in the teachers stand, would be immensely proud and cheering the loudest. Harry was immediately cheering, as were Fred and George stood in the row behind him, still taking bets for people. Fred seemed very invested in his girlfriend's play, and barely took his eyes off her.

Amelia was already engaged in a race with Cho, with his twins Firebolt proving the quickest - Cho was still riding a Comet Two Ninety. His eagle-eyed vision could already see the Snitch dangling below Ron. But it soon was darting off, nowhere to be seen. Ravenclaw Chasers soon managed to steal the Quaffle, but not before Roger performed a foul on Angelina. A penalty was soon given to Gryffindor as well, as one of the Ravenclaw Beater’s was stupid enough to try and charm the Bludger to attack Dorea. Angelina took the shot, and soon it was 20-0 to Gryffindor.

It was barely ten minutes later that Ravenclaw drew level with them, as Skye Parkin pulled off some incredible broomwork to score two goals in the space of four minutes, leaving Ron flustered. Unfortunately, some of the Slytherin’s started taking up the song “ _ Weasley is our King”, _ which Harry grimaced at, but hoped that Ron wouldn’t lose focus. This was, after all, a critical game in terms of the Quidditch Cup standings, and the last game before Christmas break.

Yet more carnage ensued, as Sloper managed to hit a Bludger; which hit the third Ravenclaw Chaser - Bradley, - right on his shoulder, which caused the Chaser to be in pain. Bradley had to get subbed off, and there was a short interval before the Reserve Chaser was ready to come on. However, the game quickly got going again. Dorea, Angelina and Ginny soon performed a Thimblerig Shuffle; which worked very well, as Davis went to tackle Ginny thinking she had the Quaffle, but really Dorea had it, and whilst he was still distracted, tore away towards Ravenclaw’s hoops, putting yet another goal in to the delight of Gryffindor and half of Hufflepuff. Harry was sure his throat was going to be raw with the amount of cheers and whoops he let out, but didn’t care; spectating Quidditch was very very fun.

After almost an hour and a half, the game was only getting more and more intense. It seemed that for every goal Gryffindor scored, Ravenclaw scored another two before anyone could even blink. The score was currently level between the two teams, and it could literally go to the wire or either way. Amelia was once again engaged in a race towards the Snitch with Cho hot on her heels. Both of them dived downwards, and had to dodge the Chasers as the Snitch eventually stopped diving downwards ten feet below the others. Amelia’s Firebolt proved the swiftest, as it was already straightening out whilst Cho was still pulling her Comet upwards with every strength she had. The match ended with a roar when Amelia effortlessly stuck her arm out, and caught the Golden Snitch in her hands, meaning that Gryffindor had narrowly won. 

“Amelia Potter has caught the Snitch, meaning that Gryffindor now have a perfect two out of two winning streak for this year! What a girl, unbelievable! Chang is in disbelief! Final score: Gryffindor 340, Ravenclaw 300!” Lee Jordan bellowed down the magical megaphone. The stands were practically moving back and forth with the amount of people celebrating and jumping around. Hermione whirled him around in a celebratory hug, whilst Fred and George were taking up some sort of chant; Harry couldn’t hear it with the amount of students buzzing around him.

When they finally got down to the pitch, they ran towards the team. Harry began profusely congratulating and praising them on their efforts, and did the same for the Ravenclaws. Though Ron looked delighted, he was probably still feeling let down with the amount of goals he let in, but Harry thought today had been his best day nonetheless. He finally got close enough to pull Dorea, Amelia and Ginny into a group hug. “Well done you lot, you were brilliant!” Harry said, barely able to hear himself speak. 

Sirius was another person soon charging through the crowd. Harry felt his heart warm as Sirius pulled Dorea into the world's biggest hug, and he could see that his godfather was also teary eyed. The DA members were also rushing through the crowd; Daphne, Astoria and Tracey grinned at him as they went to engulf Dorea and Amelia in hugs, as were Hannah, Susan and Megan. Blaise and Theo were congratulating Ron and trying to get closer to give praise to the girls. Even Ravenclaw’s such as Padma, Tulip, Sue, Badeea and Lisa were looking happy. However, Cho did not appear to be in a good mood as she strode down the hill towards the changing rooms, gripping her broom so hard it looked like the wood was bound to snap.

The party in Gryffindor common room lasted a good few hours, as usual, with Butterbeer galore and plenty of sweets provided by Fred and George. Usually, the parties were held in the evening, but the Senior Group of the DA would be meeting in the Room of Requirement that night, but everyone was content nonetheless.

The DA session in question went very smoothly, with everyone able to enter the Room without any problems. In order for them all to catch up, as it was their first session since Umbridge banned all clubs and meetings two weeks ago, Harry set the time delay clock for two hours (whilst for everyone outside the room, only an hour would pass), but didn’t feel like explaining the clocks, so he hid them. That session, they worked on the Impediment Jinx, which Harry really wanted them to have on their arsenal as it was a handy spell to use if you needed a few seconds to get away. They couldn’t risk having Flitwick as a referee, so in his place Harry cast a Cushioning Charm around the floor in case somebody cast it a little too hard. Neville only managed to mess up once - accidentally making Terry topple over backwards, but apart from that no other incidents occurred. It was Seamus’s first ever session, and within ten minutes Harry seen him already making friends; from Justin to Michael and Terry.

He walked past Cho, who was working with Mandy Brocklehurst. He didn’t quite know what her mood was after her team's defeat earlier, but she managed to smile at him. “Hullo, Harry.” Cho said.

“I know your team lost earlier, but you played really well.” He said, a tad awkwardly, as Mandy was clearly a bit annoyed she had to wait for them to finish speaking.

“Oh, thanks.” Cho answered, “your sister is really good, she done rings around me.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty quick.” He said, but then got back to the task. “Let’s see you cast the Impediment Jinx, then.”

Cho straightened up quickly, and Mandy was no longer looking bored. She held her arm out straight, gripped her wand, and said, “ _ Impedimenta!” _

The spell only half-worked, as Cho had pronounced it “ImpedAmenta” instead of “ImpedImenta”, which meant that only the bottom half of Mandy’s body was frozen. Cho managed to get it on the second try though, which he was satisfied with. He couldn’t help but feel like Mandy had tried to aim at him when it was her turn. 

The rest of the session, the magical dummies got wheeled out, and everyone had a chance to work individually at their own pace, rather than in a pair. Observing, Harry found it an effective method, as some people really thrived on the opportunity to focus on themselves rather than perform against another person. Seamus also used it as an opportunity to learn the spells that he had missed out on, which worked quite well, and by the end of the session the boy had perfected most of the spells he had to catch up on, which was quite impressive.

Just before Harry called an end to the session, Hermione turned to him. “Harry, I’ve been working on something that all the DA can use in order to communicate.”

He raised his brows. “Oh?”

She produced what looked to be a money bag. When she opened it up, it looked to be on first inspection filled with Galleons. However, they were actually fake. “You see the numerals around the outside edge of the coin?” Hermione pointed to the rim, where there was some writing. “On real Galleons it's just a serial number which refers to the goblin that made the coin. On these fake coins, though, I’ve charmed the numbers to change to reflect the date and time of the next DA meeting, but it can also change to anything; for example, a reminder of what spells to practise and learn. The coins grow hot when the writing changes or updates, so that the person will be able to feel them. All the coins will mimic your main one, as I’ve put a Protean Charm on them.”

Harry was very impressed. “That’s epic!” Another thought came to him. “If Umbridge ever forces us to empty our pockets, she’ll find nothing suspicious about a Galleon being in there, and I doubt she’ll inspect it.”

“Yeah, exactly, that's why I used them.” Hermione agreed brightly.

When Hermione told the group about her idea, she was initially met with silence, but then Anthony Goldstein spoke up. “You can do a Protean Charm?”

“Yes,” Hermione replied.

“That’s quite advanced stuff.” Anthony was impressed.

“Yeah, that’s a NEWT level spell, Granger.” Blaise said, in a tone of praise. When everyone had received their fake Galleon, the session concluded. Harry went to find the Marauder’s Map; everything seemed in order, as Umbridge was in her quarters, and Filch was in his office. Mrs Norris was patrolling the ground floor. Dobby and a few of the house elves soon arrived to Apparate people back to their dormitories, another session completed without a single teacher aware of what they were doing.


	18. Kindling Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Later on in this chapter, we get a new POV perspective from... A certain hinted admirer of Amelia ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Harry, Amelia and Dorea have yet more detentions with Umbridge, and a surprise event occurs whilst Christmas holidays near.

For once, Sunday was spent partly relaxing. It seemed the teachers were finally giving them a bit of a homework break, which the fifth years were grateful for.

At breakfast, Harry told his friends that he was going to brew some potions in Dungeon Five with Blaise and Theo, and invited them to join him. Dorea and Amelia gladly accepted to come along, whilst Hermione said she was going to the library with Sue and Padma, and Ron had already planned to finally play Ernie at wizard chess. As much as he would have liked to see that game, Harry left the great hall with his twin and godsister, and met up with the two Slytherin boys near the staircase. 

When they got to Dungeon Five, Harry felt relieved that Snape wasn’t there. In fact, the only other people in the room were some seventh years, brewing what looked to be very complicated concoctions. Amelia and Dorea grabbed a bench for themselves whilst Harry, Theo and Blaise set up at a bench nearby.

“I’m going to get started on Bruisewort Balm,” Harry said as he got his cauldron and scales out.

“I definitely need to brush up on the Invigoration Draught, when we brewed it in class mine only got an A.” Theo said, getting up to fetch his ingredients presumably.   
“How come you’re brewing Bruisewort, Potter? It’s not even in the curriculum.” Blaise eyed him.

Harry fumbled for an excuse - he didn’t quite want Blaise to find out about his detentions with Umbridge, though he did like and trust him. “I think it’s handy to have on you, especially after you trip or something.”

Blaise smirked. “Nice try. You’re not clumsy in the slightest.” He paused. “But you don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”

He was grateful for that, at least. He got his notebook out, which contained the instructions and his own notes for the Bruise Balm he had written back at Black Manor, when he was a regular in the Potions Lab. Since it needed fifteen minutes to simmer, a thought came to him: He could probably brew a Befuddlement Draught alongside it, seeming as his one had gotten tampered with when he brewed it in class. Even though he’d brewed it a few times back at the Manor, he wanted to refresh his memory of it.

Being mindful that he now had two potions on the go (Blaise kept eyeing them nervously), he was extremely careful to get his timings right. Harry also had to keep his ingredients separate and not mix them up. No incidents occurred, however his Bruise Balm was done simmering a bit earlier than expected as it changed colour after only ten minutes, but put that down to his cauldron heat being one setting higher. He made a note in his book that it could save time and noted the heat number for future reference.

Bruise Balm done (it had to cool for twenty-five minutes before it could be bottled), all his attention was on his Befuddlement Draught. He’d now reached the stage he’d gotten to in Thursday’s class when Crabbe had sabotaged it. He instinctively tensed up when Theo walked right behind where he was sitting, even though he was only passing to get to his seat. Just as he turned the cauldron off so that the potion could cool down did he finally speak again. “Feels good to finally get that ticked off.”

“I was nervous when you started brewing two potions at the same time, not gonna lie, but you had them so under control. You’ll soon overtake Granger at being the best in the class.” Blaise remarked, impressed, as he was finishing off his Draught of Peace.

“You’re definitely one of the best in the class, Blaise.” Harry added. Blaise was about to respond (likely with disbelief) when Theo let out a noise of distress.

“Oh my word, I’m such a dunce, I added the wrong ingredient!” Theo Nott looked stressed. A foul smell was soon wafting through the air in Dungeon Five, and dark grey bubbles were soon being omitted from the cauldron.

Harry fumbled to get his wand out as Blaise said that he had no clue what to do. He realised he didn’t actually know the wand movement for the spell, but spoke it anyway. “ _ Laxo!” _

Just like that, the ingredient that Theo had added by mistake whizzed out of the cauldron and back to where it was previously lined up on his cutting board. The dungeon was no longer smelling like rotten milk, and the bubbles that resembled fumes evaporated into thin air. Theo looked like Harry had just saved his life. “Oh, mate! Thanks for that!”

“Was that a spell that undo’s the previous instruction or something?” Blaise looked amazed.

“Yeah,” Harry said, smiling, “my godfather taught me it. I was actually about to use it in Potions the other day, but Professor Snape took points off me for even having my wand out.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about Malfoy and them being twats by the way.” It dawned on Blaise. “It was totally unfair that you got detention and points taken - I saw both Snape and Umbridge literally stare at Crabbe and the others when they went over to ruin your potions.”

Harry waved off his apology. “It’s fine, mate. The essay he had us do wasn’t even that bad.”

Before anyone in school could even comprehend, December rolled around, and announced its welcome with flurries of snow showers and colder weather; Hogsmeade in particular looked picturesque during the first weekend of the month, where there was about a foot of snow on the ground. During this visit, Harry gladly spent it in the company of his other friends - and was pleased when Amelia, Dorea, Ron and Hermione did the same. Amelia and Dorea spent time with Daphne, Hannah, Susan and Astoria, whereas Hermione was especially happy spending the day in the company of Sue, Megan, Padma and Lisa. Even Ron was comfortable temporarily parting with Harry to go to Honeydukes with Neville, Ernie, Justin and Terry.

Harry himself spent the day wandering and shopping with Blaise, Theo, Anthony, Seamus and Dean. He had been very surprised when Dean in particular had gotten more and more friendly with the two Slytherin boys, but felt very satisfied that the DA was doing its job. Blaise even asked Dean about a few things regarding muggles - Harry found himself smiling.

On Monday morning, a rather unusual notice appeared on the Bulletin board in Gryffindor common room. It read:

_ “To all students from fifth year onwards, _

_ After the Christmas holidays, our Matron, Madam Pomfrey, will be starting up extracurricular Healing lessons held in the Hospital Wing. These lessons are for those who may wish to pursue a career in Healing, or maybe just want to explore all their options before your career’s appointment with your Head of House later in the year. _

_ Healing is a very well-paid and respected profession, however St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries have expressed frustration that new applicants over the years have little to no experience or knowledge in the field - so with permission from the High Inquisitor, this course aims to give a bite-sized but intense experience of what life as a Healer or a Mediwitch/Mediwizard is like. Obviously, this course is not for the faint-hearted and squeamish.  _

_ This short course aims to teach you: _

  * _How to mend broken and fractured bones_


  * How to diagnose both external and internal problems


  * How to mend cuts, bruises, wounds, aches and pains


  * Healing magic


  * Healing potions and medication


  * Theory of magical diseases and illnesses



_ At the end of the course, each person will have to sit both a theory and practical test to determine their grade. More information about this will be explained during the first session. _

_ Seventh years may also be entitled to a week-long work placement at St Mungo’s Hospital during the final week of the course, depending on the standard of their work throughout. _

_ If you are interested, please sign your name to the sheet overleaf. First session will be on January 4th at seven p.m and will thereafter run every fortnight. _

_ Signed: Madam Pomfrey (Matron of Hogwarts), Dolores Umbridge (High Inquisitor). _

When Dorea came down into the common room, she was a bit confused when Harry dragged her over to the notice board, as she wondered if Professor Umbridge had brought out another Educational Decree. She was very surprised when she read the message.

“Well, it sounds quite interesting,” she told him. “I’d quite like to try it.”

“I might go along to the taster session - I’ve never really considered Healing as a career.” Harry said. They both signed their names and waited for Amelia to come down; as they both thought she’d like it too. They were right - for she signed her name almost straight away. Hermione, who was someone already considering her career options since the start of term, also signed. Ron didn’t really have an opinion; he thought it a bit too practical and hard-going, but said he might go to the taster session. 

At breakfast, she sat at the Hufflepuff table with Amelia, Hermione and Daphne. They discussed the course. “I’ve always wanted to be a Healer,” Hannah declared, “I’m so happy this course will give me some beforehand experience. A lot of new recruits in the field have no clue what they’re doing half the time as it’s not offered at school particularly, so they spend more time training them on the job, which is pretty time consuming.”

Daphne nodded. “It’s definitely a bonus to be able to heal somebody, especially in today’s climate.”

Dorea almost couldn’t wait until after the Christmas holidays now. She made a mental note to herself to look through her uncle Alphard’s library when they went home for the Christmas holidays - as the library back at Black Manor would more than likely contain a good few books on Healing, and a little bit of background reading wouldn’t harm anyone.

Their classes still continued to be a bit of a handful; with homework still being assigned, but not as crazily, and deadlines were gradually getting a bit longer: most tasks were assigned with a week or two week due date, so that took a bit of stress off their shoulders. Fred and the other NEWT students didn’t quite have that luxury; some of their work was due in the same week it was assigned, and Dorea gradually understood why they were called Nastily Exhausting. Even her own dad was getting quite frantic regarding homework tasks: they had a star chart to do regarding plotting Jupiter’s moons, and an essay regarding star clusters. 

With Professor Umbridge being useless in regards to teaching Defence, Harry had taken it upon himself to also start teaching the Senior DA group (the fifth years anyway, since it was their level) spells they should have been learning in fifth year Defence. Their second session meeting in the Room of Requirement was spent learning one of the spells: the Reductor Curse. Since they were so new to it, and ideally it took quite a lot to learn, they agreed to spend at least two sessions learning it. To no one's surprise, Hermione was one of the first to learn its theory and get it right the quickest, but Ginny was very quick at learning it too - as she managed to reduce one of the magical dummies to shreds. Towards the end of the session, Harry announced that they could possibly start learning the Patronus Charm. Everyone ‘ooo’d at that, especially the seventh years; George claimed that they were due to start learning it after Christmas, so would like a head start. 

Harry had spent about ten minutes telling them about the Charm and all of its uses. He explained to them how to achieve a corporeal Patronus; they had to think about a particularly strong memory in order for it to succeed. The memories could be ones that made them feel happy, alive, or just generally accomplished. Thereafter, everyone took a good few minutes to wrack their brains for their happiest moments, and some sixth and seventh years even attempted it straight away; but to almost no avail, as they only managed to produce small wisps. When the others eventually managed to start giving it a go, everyone got the same result. 

“This is pointless!” Zacharias Smith piped up. “It’s clearly not going to work for anyone!”

“It does work, it just takes quite a lot of dedication.” Harry replied a bit gruffly. “It’s a pretty advanced spell, so I would be very surprised if anyone managed to conjure a corporeal Patronus by the end of the session.”

Zach turned around and everyone’s attention was on him. “I bet you can’t even do it, Potter.”

People started getting defensive of Harry, however he wanted silence. “I  _ can _ conjure a Patronus, Zach.”

“Oh yeah? Well, show us then!”

The room stopped to watch Harry as he pulled his own wand out. He took a few moments to prepare his memory, but when he did, he said the words “ _ Expecto Patronum!” _

Light erupted from the tip of his wand, and a ball of it came together to form Harry’s usual Patronus - a stag, - which charged forward and ran around in the air, doing a few laps of the room before returning back. Everyone was amazed, and Zacharias was left flustered and embarrassed.

The rest of the session passed, and as predicted, nobody had managed to fully master the spell. However, a few seventh years had managed to at least get a ball to erupt from the end of their wands, but that was the extent of it. When it was time to leave, Harry said there was no rush to perfect their Patronus, as it took quite a lot of time to learn and practise, and said that half of the next session would be dedicated time for them to practise it within. Everyone nodded, and Harry updated their fake coins to mimic that reminder.

  
  


Just before Defence on Monday, as they were walking into the class, did Harry ask Professor Umbridge about the DA; which she had still not decided to reform yet, even though it had been little over a month.

“Mr Potter, I am still thinking about whether or not the club can reform. I have been very busy, you see, with the inspections and what not.” Was her answer.

“But it’s been ages!” Harry said. Dorea thought he was very good at acting; for all this time, he had been holding DA lessons in secret. If Umbridge caught wind of that, though, they’d be expelled.

“Mr Potter, I can assure you that I am close to making a decision. Now, step into class, please.” Umbridge said sweetly. That lesson was spent mostly reading, however Umbridge gave them back the two essays she had assigned. Dorea felt herself bubble with anger when she saw, written in the top-right hand corner, a ‘P’ occupying the space in the red marker pen. Amelia and Harry had gotten the same grade, even though their essays were nearly identical to Ron and Hermione’s, which had received passing grades. The Slytherin’s seemed to get great marks though; and Dorea noticed Umbridge’s favouritism when even people like Crabbe and Goyle managed to get E’s. As she was making her way back to the front, Umbridge stopped by their table. “Miss Black, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, for your shocking marks, you’ll be seeing me for a week's worth of detention again next week. Usual time, my office.” She said a bit quietly, smiling viciously.

All five of them shared a look then; Dolores Umbridge needed to be reported and taken down. She had purposefully marked their essays down so that she could give them detention, and put them under the blood quill’s torture once again. Dorea had no clue how she was going to endure it. 

The rest of the week passed as usual. Wayne Hopkins was declared fit to use magic again, after his core had been weakened quite a lot after he’d been attacked by Francis Selwyn, which was good. The boy had still been attending classes, but spent them learning the theory behind spells whilst the rest of the class learned them practically. Wayne seemed to learn quite quickly though, and had already mastered the spells he had to catch up on in both Charms and Transfiguration, which was spectacular. He’d also been given the all-clear to return to Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, where he played as a Beater with Megan, which was also great news. 

Some of the Ravenclaw’s were still a bit edgy around Harry, especially after Selwyn had been sentenced to ten years in Azkaban earlier in the week, but so far none of them had been openly hostile. Most of the time they just glared at him and whispered to their friends. Those Ravenclaw’s in the DA knew better though; Francis Selwyn was a dangerous student with hopes to become a Death Eater, and the Ministry were right (for once) to throw him in jail.

Amelia altered her time spent between her Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw friends. She usually spent breakfasts with Daphne, Astoria and Tracey, who were full of good gossip. Lunches were spent with Hannah, Susan and Megan, whilst dinner’s were usually spent at Gryffindor table, but people normally filtered over to sit with them. 

On Tuesday, just after the seventh period was over, Amelia and Dorea made their way to dinner, but they both paused when they heard a commotion going on. It was coming from the History of Magic classroom. "Let's go see what's up." Amelia led the way.   
When they quietly peeked in, they saw that an older group of Ravenclaw girls - perhaps sixth or seventh years, - were surrounding someone. They were both shocked to find that it was Cho Chang they were surrounding. Only thing was, they were picking on her. "Here's the thing Cho, you're a great girl and all, but you really need to step up your Quidditch game." One said   
"We're fourth in the House Cup standings as it is, and thanks to you failing to catch the Snitch two Saturdays ago, we’re also fourth in the Quidditch Cup!" Another snapped.   
Amelia was very surprised that Cho Chang - who was always surrounded by a group of girls, and was very popular amongst everyone, was actually getting bullied. "I-I'm sorry, I just haven't been able to focus, with my subjects and.. Other things." Cho sounded so sad and scared.   
"Get a new broom as well, Chang, nobody rides Comet Two Nineties anymore." One of the older girls snarled.   
"Oh don't tell me you still haven't gotten over Cedric?" Another said exasperatedly. The others began tutting then. Cho's eyes became watery, and was nearing bursting out crying.   
"What a drama queen, eh girls?" They all giggled.   
"While we're at it - give us your Charms notes. I'm almost failing the class."   
"No!" Cho said, pulling her bag closer to her.   
"Now now, Chang, don't make us use force."   
"Let's lay into her, girls."   
Before they could even lay a finger on Cho, Amelia and Dorea kicked into action. They drew their wands and made their presence known.   
"You wouldn't think of touching her." Dorea snarled.   
The group of girls whipped round, and Cho let out a gasp.   
"Oh hi Dorea, Amelia! How are you two on this fine day?" One of the girls said in a falsely sweet voice that they both associated with Professor Umbridge.   
"Oh cut that out, you cow." Amelia barked. "Get away from Cho."   
"How dare you speak to your own housemate like that," Dorea said to them in a dangerous tone.   
"This is none of your concern, Potter, Black." A tall blonde girl who now had Cho by her hair snapped.   
"Cho is a Ravenclaw, you two are Gryffindor's, you have no business here." A round girl said through narrowed eyes.   
"What exactly has she done to you?" Amelia snarled. "You're bullying the poor girl because she's been grieving Cedric, and she's also somehow to blame for Ravenclaw's fourth place standings this year? The last time I checked, Quidditch was a team game, not an individual one."   
"But Cedric died last year, she has no excuse-"   
" _ Last year _ ? Last June you mean, and that was barely six months ago," Dorea raised her voice.   
"I suppose I should go get your Head of House, he won't be very pleased that you're manhandling one of his favourite students, nor someone younger than you all." Amelia smirked when she saw the older girls stiffen.   
"You wouldn't dare, Potter." The blonde one holding Cho now had her wand pointed at Amelia, but she quickly disarmed her. "How dare you!" The girl screamed.   
"What's going on?" They heard another voice, and it was both Anthony and Padma standing in the doorway, "Violet, why are you holding Cho like that?!"   
"Anthony, can you go get Flitwick please? These girls ganged up on Cho and were bullying her before we came along." Dorea asked the boy over her shoulder. Anthony obeyed, and jogged away to find the small professor.   
"Padma, why don't you just fuck off? You're always following us." The round girl barked at the older Patil sister.   
"Because this is what you do all the time! You ganged up on a first year in the bathroom the other day, what is your damn problem?!" Padma snapped.   
"Them."    
Amelia and Dorea whipped round. "Pardon?"   
"Them and their drenched brother. Walking around the school thinking they're a cut above us all just because their stupid club united the houses, big fucking deal. We'll bully who we want, when we want."   
"Incase you thick twats have forgotten, I'm a Prefect. I won't take points away - we’re as low on them as it is - but I'll give you detention. Let's see now.. Violet, I think five days of writing will do you just fine. Amanda, five days of cleaning the trophy room.. Anna, a weeks cleaning the Ravenclaw Common Room - oi, no complaining, you cow, or it'll be the whole tower-"   
Padma was cut off by the arrival of Professor Flitwick and Anthony. "I should have known it was you seven girls." Amelia had never even seen the small Professor so angry in his life, but he looked livid. Clearly, the older girls were his least favourite students.   
"Professor, no, please.." The blonde girl, Violet, now looked close to tears. She had let go of Cho, who was all too glad to no longer be held restrained, and quickly made her way over next to Dorea.   
"You've been told time and time again about the consequences of your bullying. You are seventh years, for crying out loud! You're months away from graduating! I personally think that none of you would get jobs with attitudes as disgusting as yours." Flitwick was raging. Dorea and Amelia held Cho in a comforting embrace, Padma and Anthony giving her sympathetic looks too. "Your parents will be informed of your disgusting ways. But for now, go to Dumbledore's office." Flitwick barked, and the group of girls left in a rage. The small professor then turned to Cho. "Miss Chang, are you alright?"   
"Y-yeah, they only grabbed me. I have Amelia and Dorea to thank. If they hadn't come along and stopped them, I'd hate to think what else they would have done." It was then that she started crying. Padma retrieved a few handkerchiefs from Binn's desk and gave them to Cho.   
Flitwick then turned to Amelia and her godsister. "You two are absolute stars, you know that? Just like your mothers, the both of you. They'd be proud. I'll tell Sirius how well you handled this situation, girls. You've also rid Hogwarts of a horrid group of girls, too. Fifty points to Gryffindor. Oh and Anthony, Padma, twenty points each to Ravenclaw for also helping. Ten points to you, Cho, for being so brave too. I'll see you all tomorrow."   
The five of them made their way to the Great Hall for dinner, and Anthony even invited them to sit at Ravenclaw table, which they gladly accepted. Cho was still a bit red-faced, but she quickly cheered up once they got eating and talking. Over at Hufflepuff table, Harry, Ron and Hermione gave them questioning looks. Amelia mouthed that she’d tell them later, which they nodded at. Both Amelia and Dorea got talking with Padma, Sue and Lisa, mostly regarding school but they also talked about the Healing lessons that Madam Pomfrey was starting up. Padma said that her and Parvati’s mum worked at St Mungo’s on the elderly ward, they learned, which sounded tough going but interesting, and Padma really wanted to take the course in order to broaden her Healing knowledge. Sue’s aunt used to work on the psychological ward before she left to work in a magical hospital in Spain for a few years, so Sue was also intrigued about the course. 

Wednesday and Thursday soon flew by, and everyone was glad when Friday rolled around, for it meant another week was done and dusted. Harry woke up quite early despite the fact he’d stayed up until almost one in the morning, reading over his notes he’d made during his Arithmancy lessons with Vector the previous day. He had a feeling he’d end up having to enlist Susan to help him again, as the new topic that he and Professor Vector had gone over the previous day was still confusing him senseless. He also reminded himself to ask Anthony or Terry a question regarding the Ancient Runes homework that Babbling had assigned them - for he wasn’t quite sure what they actually had to write for it.

At breakfast, he noticed Luna sitting at Ravenclaw table alone. He felt like he’d neglected spending time with her, so went to sit with her. “This seat taken?”

“No, you can sit there, Harry.” Luna said without even looking up from her copy of  _ The Quibbler _ .

As he helped himself to a butterie, he got talking. “How have you been?”

“Oh, quite well. I don’t know if I said, but I’m really enjoying the DA.” Luna said breathily.

“You’re really good at the spells,” Harry admitted, “and you work well with others. Have you made many friends?”

“Oh yeah. Ginny is nice, as are your friends. Astoria is very nice too.” Luna replied, taking a drink.

Harry was about to say something else, when Hope Geddes appeared with a group of her friends. “Morning, Loony.” Hope said, before bursting out in quiet giggles with her friends as they sat down at the table.

“Oh, hello.” Luna said, naive to their giggles.

Harry tensed, as he was 90% sure he just heard them say something nasty or derogatory about Luna. Though the girl didn’t appear to have heard them, Harry shot them a nasty glare.

Double Care of Magical Creatures that morning was very good, as Hagrid introduced them to a herd of Unicorns. The whole class seemed very intrigued and fascinated by the horned beasts, and though they were very tall, were very gentle. They were so brilliantly white that they made the small amounts of snow around them look grey. Even Pansy Parkinson enjoyed the lesson, as she clutched her chest and made an excited noise when it was revealed that one of the Unicorn mares had a golden foal at its side. “Born at the weekend, tha’ one.” Hagrid claimed. “A little jolty fella. Easiest birthin’ I’ve ‘ad to do so far. Was standin’ within ‘alf an hour of bein’ in the world.”

During History of Magic, Harry had already completed taking notes of the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, which Binns was still droning on about, so didn’t actually feel the need to do anything that period. He considered just moving on to the next topic, but found that he couldn’t actually be bothered writing. Instead, he just thought to himself. He realised that he should really tell Ron about the Room of Requirement’s time delay feature, as he figured that it was time they take advantage of that feature - especially with the amount of homework being assigned. “See at lunch, do you want to go to the Room of Requirement?” he asked his friend.

“Uh, okay, what for?” Ron replied.

“I discovered something it does, and I want to show you.” Harry answered. 

They agreed they didn’t want to spend too long in there, as the others would surely wonder where on earth they’d gone, so as soon as Sirius let them finish up in Astronomy, they said to the girls that they were going to go to the toilet first, but they’d not be too long. They seemed to buy it, although Hermione looked a bit doubtful. They quickly walked out the class with a farewell to Sirius before they made their way towards the seventh floor.

When they got in, Ron was immediately curious. “So, what is it you want to show me?”

“Well, have you ever felt that the DA sessions last longer than the hour and a half?” Harry asked, as he walked towards where he’d hid the clocks.

“Yeah, I actually have, it feels like we’re in there way longer than that.” Ron said.

“Well, that’s because I’ve been using these.” Harry pulled out the three clocks.

Ron looked confused. “What?”

So Harry explained to him the time delay feature, and Ron was very impressed. “We could totally use them to get homework done all in one sitting! That’s wicked!”

“I’ve only been extending time slightly, as before I discovered this room the whole DA was two weeks behind - so we obviously needed slightly longer to cover everything we missed. I’ve been using it ever since for us to catch up. During the sessions, I shrink the timer clock so it fits in my pocket, and I can feel it vibrating whenever time is up.” Harry said, grinning. “I know messing with time is a bit risky, but the third clock always shows how much time passes in between so I never go too far ahead or behind.”

“Yeah, I get that, don’t want us getting too.. What is it the muggles say when they travel? Something like lag?”

“Jet-lagged.” Harry supplied.

“That’s the one.” Ron said. The two boys then decided to get down to the Great Hall for lunch, so they left.

Over at Slytherin table during lunch, Theo Nott gladly tucked into his meal, as he was especially hungry. The Slytherin’s and Ravenclaw’s had just had a vigorous Charm’s lesson, where they had just mastered the Substantive Charm. Theo had been a bit distracted, as he was getting a bit stressed out due to the fact that none of his memories seemed to be good enough to produce even tiny wisps of a Patronus Charm. Blaise was kind of in the same boat as him, but he wasn’t as worried, as they’d only been introduced to it last Saturday.  _ What if I can’t physically produce a Patronus due to my dad being a Dark wizard?  _ He wondered frantically. Though Theo didn’t consider himself Dark, his father was, and his father before him was…

He was distracted when he heard the unmistakable giggle of Amelia Potter and her friends walking into the Great Hall. He felt himself at ease as he watched her walk towards her own house table with her godsister, though they were soon joined by Daphne and a whole other group of girls. 

Truth be told, Theo was gradually finding out everyday that he was developing something more than a crush on Amelia Potter.

He had almost choked on his drink when he saw Diego Caplan playfully jab her sides from behind. In fact, he started forward a bit, startling Blaise and Barnaby. “Mate, are you feeling okay?” Barnaby enquired, eyes a bit wide.

“Oh, it’s… nothing. Just a bit of juice that I thought was going down the wrong way.” He tried to play it off, chuckling a bit.

The two boys exchanged a glance as he went back to his drink, but they saw his grip on the cup tense when he looked directly past Blaise’s shoulder, where Amelia was in terms of his line of sight. Barnaby followed his friend's gaze, and he almost shrieked when he realised just  _ who  _ Theodore Nott was looking at.

“Is our friend Theodore in love?” Barnaby said in a sing-song voice, which caught the attention of a few other people in the vicinity. “I’ve never seen him  _ ooh  _ and  _ aah _ nonverbally at someone so much.”

“Barnaby, shut your mouth.” Theo grimaced through gritted teeth, though he had a feeling his face was going a shade of crimson. “I was just thinking.”

“I don’t tend to stare outright at people when I’m just ‘thinking’, Theo.” Barnaby chirped back.

The bell rang though - literally meaning that Theo was saved by the bell. They had Herbology next (well, Barnaby, being a fourth year, had Charms). He felt himself feel giddy for the class, for none other than Amelia herself would be in it, and he couldn’t wait.

However, his drasted friends were not giving up on their relentless quest. As they were whispering and gossiping behind him on their way to class, Theo fell in beside Draco.

“They’re being so stupid,” he said.

“How?” Draco replied nonplussed as he looked over his shoulder at Blaise and Barnaby, who were giggling about something.

“They think I fancy someone when I don’t.” Theo answered.  _ But I do fancy her…  _ He couldn’t let his feelings show though. 

Draco just scoffed. As they filed into the Herbology greenhouse, Theo took his usual seat in between Blaise and Goyle. However, Blaise was still persisting.

As Blaise went to the back of the classroom to grab an extra pot for the Chinese Chomping Cabbages, he whispered in Theo’s ear. “I might go say a hello to your crush.”

Theo turned in his chair. “You better bloody not tell her, or I’ll tell Dorea about how you fancy her, you git.”

Blaise chuckled. “No, no, I’ll leave the telling of love to the actual person.”

“Make sure it stays that way, Blaise.” Theo grunted.

“Mr Nott, is something the matter?” Professor Sprout called out, and suddenly Theo noticed that the whole class was looking at him with curiosity. He could hear Blaise scoffing over at the back shelf.

“No, Professor, nothing’s wrong.” He said, rather weakly. He even caught eyes with Amelia herself.  _ Do NOT blush!  _ He told himself, yet he looked away from her far quicker than he would have liked.

He went to go and grab the spare pots for both himself, Crabbe and Goyle (because they were lazy sods,) and when he turned to head back, he almost bloody dropped them when he noticed that Amelia was heading towards him.

“Hey, Theo,” Amelia had smiled at him. 

“Hello, Amelia,” he tried to play it cool. He just knew that Blaise was watching him.

“Harry was wondering if you were perhaps wanting to join him and Blaise for another Potion brewing session this weekend?” She said to him. Her green eyes were looking particularly bright as the sun helped to highlight them. Her voice was as airy and as lovely as usual.

“Oh, erm, yeah. I almost forgot about that - we haven’t had a chance to brew these last few weeks.” He replied, setting the pots down on a table next to him so he could look that little bit more relaxed. ”You’d be welcome to join us too.” He blurted out without even thinking.

“I will have to wait another time - me, Hannah, Susan, Dorea, Hermione and Sue are going to have an Ancient Runes study session this Saturday before DA, so I can’t.” The Potter girl paused, “I heard you’re struggling a bit with the Patronus charm.”

He blushed. Before he could reply, she stepped in. “Hey, it’s nothing to worry about, there’s a lot of other DA members struggling. It’s incredibly advanced magic, and we were only introduced to it last Saturday, it’ll come eventually. Even  _ Anthony Goldstein  _ is struggling with it.”

He felt better at that - Anthony was a very smart guy, he knew, so if he was having problems then it was nothing to be ashamed of. He remembered back to the last DA session… Barely anybody had managed to produce anything more than silver wisps. “What about next Sunday? We could go to the Room.” He offered.

“That would be perfect, how about half past two?” She replied, looking enthusiastic.

“Great!” He grinned. He then noticed that they were now staring at each other, and he was struggling to tear his gaze away…

“We should get back to our Cabbages before they go on a rampage.” Amelia suggested, as at that moment, Seamus Finnigan got bit by his one, and Professor Sprout had to give him the antidote. He agreed, and picked the pots back up as she did the same with hers.

“I’ll see you around then,” he said, as they smiled and went their different ways back to their seats. He watched her go.

As he sat back down and distributed the two other pots to Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise was looking mirthful as he tried to contain his laughter. “I hope I'm the best man at the wedding, Theo, that’s all I’m saying.” Zabini quipped.

“What wedding?” Crabbe piped up, his thick head looking from Theo to Blaise. “You can’t be getting married, Theo?”

“It’s nothing, ignore Blaise, he’s gone barmy.” Theo said quickly, hoping that was the end of that conversation. He couldn’t help but see Draco shoot him a sharp look.

At the end of Herbology, as they were filling out the greenhouse, he found himself alongside Amelia as they exited. They connected eyes once again. He tried to make conversation. “Another day, another painful Defence lesson with Dolores Umbitch.” He said, referring to the fact that they had the horrible woman next for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Amelia laughed at that. She was about to reply, but yet Professor Sprout called his name.

“Mr Nott, I’m not sure how you’re going to be able to do your essay if you leave your parchment notebook behind.” 

“Oh, shoot!” He blushed furiously as he jogged back into the class and went to retrieve it from Sprout. As he approached her, he looked a bit sheepish. “Sorry, Professor.”

His Herbology teacher was looking at him knowingly and, with a thin smile, said to him in a low voice (as if they were discussing something top secret), “Whilst your nickname for Professor Umbridge is well suited, please refrain from using it around your other.. Not so forgiving teachers.”

His second wave embarrassment hit, as he realised that she had overheard him call Umbridge - well, a bitch. He nodded furiously, and Sprout’s eyes gestured for him to leave. Amelia was still standing by the door waiting for him.

They walked into Defence together, and whilst they weren’t even late (there were still a few people yet to arrive and sit down), Dolores Umbridge instantly targeted them. “Late, Miss Potter, five points from Gryffindor.”

Amelia looked enraged, as her nostrils flared, yet she took her seat next to Harry. Theo decided to stand up for both himself and his crush. “Are you not going to take points from me, Professor?”

The toad-like woman’s tone went utterly high, as if she was speaking to Theo like he was her favourite child. “And why would I do that, Mr Nott?”

“Well… I walked in  _ with  _ Amelia, and you said she was late, so.. Logic dictates that I was also late.” He said, realising that everyone had stopped talking to listen.

The woman's expression hadn’t changed. “Mr Nott, you do not have a record for being late, so it is different for you.”

“When has Amelia ever been late?” Theo was not backing down. He hated favouritism - and it was blatantly obvious that Professor Umbridge picked on some people more than others.

“Mr Nott, please take your seat, you are preventing the class from starting.” Umbridge said, still in a falsely sweet tone.

_ Cow isn’t even answering my question,  _ he thought, and was about to bite back when he felt Blaise tug his sleeve. He accepted defeat and plopped down into his seat near the back. Goyle leaned in to him. “Don’t know why you’d even want to talk to her.”

Theo bit back the temptation to chastise Gregory. “How?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? She’s a Potter, and Slytherin’s shouldn’t be mixing with measly Gryffindor’s.” Goyle answered, sternly. Crabbe and Malfoy nodded agreement, whilst him and Blaise shared a secret look.

On Saturday morning, Theo was one of the first people at breakfast. He had no clue why on earth he was even awake this early, but pushed that aside. He took a drink of morning tea when he noticed a very familiar owl fly through the window above the staff table. “Iris?”

His family owl was indeed flying towards him, and almost landed in his breakfast. He eagerly took the letter attached to her leg, thinking it was his dear mum writing to him. However, his heart went a bit cold when he read his own name in his father’s handwriting.

Slowly opening it up, he suddenly felt the urge that he wasn’t going to like whatever was written within the envelope. 

He was right. For his father had written:

“ _ Theodore, _

_ To say I am disappointed in you is an understatement. I am that angry I could have just sent a Howler, however your mother has already soared my throat with the amount of shouting I’ve aimed at her, so this will have to do. _

_ I have received correspondence from my friend Mr Goyle Snr, who heard from his son Gregory that you have been spending a lot of time with Miss Amelia Potter and her brother. I am utterly outraged that you even think them worthy of even your slightest presence. He has also told me that you acquaint yourself with half-bloods and muggles. Do you have even the faintest idea the shame you have brought on your family? You have disgusted me beyond belief, and you can forget it if you even think you’re getting to come home for Christmas. _

_ From this moment onwards, if you even think of returning to the house, you will be met with nothing but my rage. If your insipid mother thinks that she can try and contact you behind my back, she has another thing coming. You both are worthless to me, but I am especially disappointed that my only child has turned out to be nothing but a worthless piece of shit. _

_ Regardless, I do hope that you change your mind and realise that our Dark Lord is worthy of servitude, and that his ideologies can only benefit pure-blood wizards such as ourselves, if only for my family name’s sake. _

_ Your father, _

_ Rohan Nott.” _

After swiftly reading it, Theo suddenly found the vast empty hall almost too much to bear - he felt everything closing in on him. He was virtually homeless now; his father would beat the living daylights out of him if he ever thought of returning, and he had no way to contact his poor mum who he loved far more dearly than he ever did his dad. He felt like crying; he knew his dad treated her very poorly (Theo himself had stood up to him a few times, and taken beatings meant for her), but she was likely going to feel the brunt of his anger now that Theo couldn’t come in and save her.   
“Theo?” He heard a voice say. He looked up, snapping out of his troubles, and saw Dorea standing across the table from him.

“Oh, sorry…” Was all he said, running a hand down his face, which had sweated a bit.

“Are you okay?” Dorea Black asked, looking a bit concerned, “What’s in that letter?”

Though he considered Dorea more than a simple acquaintance, he wondered whether or not he could tell her. She certainly didn’t have an abusive father like he did, but she was very trustworthy. “M-my father has basically kicked me out of the house permanently.” He admitted, sounding weak.

Dorea gasped. “What?”

“Goyle told his dad that I have made friends with people a) not in Slytherin and b) that are half-bloods and muggleborns. His father told my father, and… well, to put it simply, he is outraged.” Theo explained.

“He’s made you homeless?!” Dorea’s eyes widened.

“Yeah. I can’t go home at all, - not for Christmas holidays, nothing.” 

It was silent for a few minutes as Dorea took that all in. He even showed her the letter, which her hands slightly shook as she read it. His eyes all but lit up when Amelia and Harry came into the room, and they wandered over.

He told them as well, having no clue how he hadn’t broken down yet. The Potter twins were equally concerned. “Do you have any other family you can stay with?” Harry asked.

“My mum's sister and mother, but my father is very controlling over them as well, he’d know if I was staying with them. My mum has some family friends too, but they live abroad… All of my father’s family are either Death Eater’s or supporters of Death Eater’s, so they’re a no-go. They’d hand me over to him on a silver platter.” He said, rattling his brain. He soon remembered that his father did have a brother… But that he’d severed contact with him years ago for reasons he did not know. He had no clue what he even looked like.

Amelia was looking at him thoughtfully and sympathetically, which his heart warmed at. He tried his hardest not to blush or look away. She eventually spoke up. “I have an idea.”

The three of them looked at her expectantly. “Regarding what?” Dorea asked.

“Regarding where Theo can live. He can come and stay with us and Sirius.” Was Amelia’s answer.

Theo’s heart was racing, in a good way. He wanted to accept her offer right away, if it meant living under the same roof as Amelia. Harry soon agreed too. “There’s plenty of room at the house.”

Dorea also found herself agreeing, and Theo almost cheered. All that there was left to do was to ask Professor Black, who was obviously Dorea’s father and the guardian of Harry and Amelia. Theo only knew him as his teacher, and found it surprising that he was soon to be his housemate.  _ Who knows, maybe in time he’ll become something of a father figure,  _ Theodore thought, then almost scoffed,  _ he can’t get any worse than my own father. _

  
  
  
  
  



	19. A Pleasant Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Hogsmeade weekends, Christmas shopping, and Patronus's start emerging. Plus, Amelia and Theo spend some time together...  
> Also, really sorry about the lined spacing in this chapter looking really close together in places - I really don't know why it does that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The first half of this chapter is seen through the POV of Theo Nott’s mum, who I’ve headcanoned to be called Ophelia. I know in some other fanfics that Theo Nott’s mum was actually quite old and died after he was born, but this is my fic and this will be as I want. 
> 
> This is also a warning: Ophelia’s POV will mention and show scenes of domestic abuse, both physical and verbal (and a bit of financial abuse too I think?). If you do not wish to read it, that is totally fine by me as her perspective doesn’t add anything directly to the plot. If you are a survivor of domestic abuse: you are so strong and worthy, and my inbox is always a safe space if you wish to get something off your chest. Help is always available.
> 
> Faceclaim for Ophelia Nott: Sienna Miller  
> Faceclaim for Rohan Nott: Diego Luna

Ophelia Nott woke up from her slumber to the daylight pouring into her bedroom. She was relieved that Rohan wasn't beside her - indicating that he was up and about.

After dressing, she made her way downstairs cautiously, for she had no clue what mood her husband would be in today. Low and behold, he was already sitting in the kitchen, drinking a bottle of Firewhisky (with an empty one also there). “Morning,” Rohan had said with no indication of having meant it.

“Good morning,” she replied back, so that he wouldn’t get angry. 

It was quiet for a few minutes as she got toast prepared for herself, assuming he’d already eaten. She could feel his eyes on her though. Rohan spoke up. “I need you to go to Gringotts for me today,” he announced.

She tried not to show how happy she was, for she was finally getting out of the house, even if it was just for an hour. “Okay,” she turned to him, “what for?”

“If you shut up, I’ll tell you.” He snapped suddenly. Ophelia’s eyes went to the floor, her head inclined. “Some distant great-aunt of mine has died, and I want to see what sort of fortune she left behind. She had no children.”

“Okay,” she cleared her throat, “I’ll get them to give me a copy of her will, yes?”

“Yes,” Rohan grunted, “and I’ll send you back tomorrow with any correspondence. You are not to go anywhere else apart from the bank, is that understood?”

 _Little do you know, I was already planning to go to Gringotts,_ she thought to herself, smugly. “Yes, Rohan.”

“And you will not meet up with anybody. Not even your sister. Am I clear?” He rattled on.

“Yes.”

“Yes, _sir.”_ Her husband snapped back, in mock.

“Is there a scheduled appointment?” She asked him.

“No. You will wait there until you can get one. I do not care if you have to wait up to an hour to see one of those goblins, you will wait your turn.” Rohan said, as if she was a child. _Yet he’ll still moan if I come back two hours later, and accuse me of seeing somebody._

As she was eating her toast through in the living room, she suddenly heard his footsteps marching briskly down the hall. _Oh gods, what could this be about…_

He appeared in the doorway, and marched towards her. He slammed an opened envelope down onto the coffee table. “What is that?”

She froze, and reached for the envelope. When she opened the letter, she realised that it was from St Mungo’s, where she had secretly (and stupidly) applied for a job in the children’s ward. It was a letter regarding her application.

“WELL?” Rohan barked, making her jump.

“I-it’s from St Mungo’s.. Rohan, please, I can expl-”

“-I told you, you are _not_ to apply for _any_ jobs. Your role is to be my wife, and bear me children. Though you have failed me in that retrospect.” He said viciously.

“W-we have a son, Rohan, Theo-”

“-Don’t you remember? He is no son of mine - he has made friends with those Potter’s, and spends time with half-bloods and _muggleborns!_ ” He cut her off. “You will _not_ be accepting that job, Ophelia, do you hear me? _Do you hear me?”_ He grabbed her blouse and shook her. Terrified, she yelped, and tried not to let the tears in her eyes show. 

“Now, I’m going to throw that letter into the fireplace, where it will be gone forever, and you will never think yourself worthy to apply to any jobs ever again.” He said, tearing the envelope and the sheet of paper. She flinched a bit, but nodded to keep him satisfied.

When he marched out of the living room, and slammed the door behind him, Ophelia thought it safe to let a few tears roll down her cheek. It was times like this where she missed her son, away at Hogwarts, as he tried ever so hard to protect her from Rohan’s wrath. He was the reason she kept fighting every single day, and she had learned to adapt to bearing the brunt of Rohan’s anger. 

She came downstairs about half an hour later after retrieving her handbag and coat from their bedroom. At the front door, Rohan was waiting for her. He was struggling to stand straight, she noticed, as he was leaning against the table for support. “Now, remember, you’re going there and straight back here.” He jabbed a finger at her.

“Yes, Rohan.” She nodded. 

“I will know if you meet up with anyone.” He said, his harsh eyes staring at her.

“I don’t plan to.” She said innocently.

Once outside, she quickly Apparated away.

Once in London, she felt very content. Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Rohan barely let her meet up with her own sister and mother, much less go out and do business for him. Though she really couldn’t stay long, she wanted to get stuff done.

She went towards Gringotts bank, and when she entered, it was surprisingly quite quiet, with only a few customers milling about. It wasn’t long before she was beckoned over to a goblins desk.

“Hello, madam.” The goblin greeted.

“Hello,” she greeted, and she placed her hands in front of her. “I’m here to make an inquiry about a will.”

“I see,” the goblin looked at her over his small spectacles. “For protection reasons, you can’t discuss or ask about its contents out here in this lobby, so we will have to go into my office to discuss it. Is that okay with you, madam?”

“Yes, yes, that will be fine.” She replied, smiling.

“Follow me.” He instructed.

She was led beyond the desk and entered a spacious office. _Does a small goblin really need this much space?_ She wondered.

“Take a seat,” he gestured kindly. She took her seat, and he sat across from her.

“My husband is Mr Rohan Nott, and he sent me here in his stead to ask about the contents of his great-aunts will, as he discovered she recently passed away.” She started explaining. The goblin didn’t seem to bat an eyelid when she said her husband was a Death Eater.

“Ah yes, we have it here on record - one moment,” the goblin flicked through a paper file, and pulled out a slightly beige bit of paper. “He didn’t tell you his great-aunt’s name, did he?”

“No,” she replied, hoping that wouldn’t hinder the task.

“That’s fine, I can see here on the family tree who he was meaning. Her name was Mrs Irma Nott, who died on Sunday aged 79. No children, and her husband died some five years before.” The goblin explained. “Her will should be here somewhere..”

He did some more digging. She patiently waited, and drifted her eyes around the room. 

“There aren’t many contents of the will, but she did actually leave a few pieces for your husband. Shall I just read out those bits?”

“Yes, but it might be handy to see what other contents there are as well, as I’m sure he’ll want to know who’s getting what.” She answered, trying to sound like she wasn’t terrified of the man she married.

Irma’s house and most of its contents were going to her younger brother, Rohan’s great-uncle, and all his descendants. The woman also had a few investments - mainly in trust bonds and other banks, which provided dividends. The total amount of the dividends were five thousand Galleons; of which two thousand five hundred belonged to Rohan, the other half going to Rohan’s brother (who he had severed contact with years ago). The woman had also given Rohan a Nott family ring, which the goblin had to hand. The ring was quite tight - Ophelia thought that maybe she could give it to Theodore as a present if she sneaked it away somewhere… 

Ophelia requested a written copy of Irma’s will, which the goblin gave her. Satisfied, she folded it away and put it back into her handbag. That seemed to be the end of the appointment. “Is there anything else you wish to ask, Mrs Nott?” The goblin asked kindly as it stowed the folder of paper away.

 _Yes, I wish to divorce my husband,_ she thought. However, she willed herself to shake her head in a polite no. However, the goblin’s smile was no longer existing. “A divorce?”

Ophelia’s heart dropped through the ground. She hadn’t realised that she’d actually said that out loud. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that..”

The goblin looked concerned. “Are you sure, Mrs Nott?”

She had only met this goblin some ten minutes ago, yet he was looking at her quite sympathetically. “F-forgive me, I don’t know why I said that, it just… slipped out.” She tried to laugh it off.

“I can see you look fearful,” the goblin pointed out, “are you definitely sure you didn’t mean that? If you did, there is help available-”

She didn’t even comprehend speaking, yet everything spilled out like water breaking out of a dam. “-To tell you the truth, yes, I did mean it. 100%. He’s hateful, spiteful, _horrible_. He’s not said a nice word in sixteen years to me, nor my son. It seems that happiness and laughter in that house is forbidden, outlawed, illegal. He doesn’t even allow me to get a job. See, the other day, he found out that our son is friends with kids that aren’t pure-blood, and you know what he does? Forbids him to ever return to the house. Yeah, you heard that correctly. He’s banished him. He’d probably kill my Theodore with no remorse if he ever came within the perimeter of the manor. And don’t even get me started on the fact that he’s a Death Eater - he’s in Voldemort’s inner circle if you must know, and I can expose all of this to the damned Ministry itself if I desired…”

Ophelia found herself drifting off, for a wave of emotion came over her. She furiously swiped her oncoming tears away, determined not to break down. The goblin looked a bit speechless. “So… On which grounds do you wish to divorce your husband on-”

“-On every ground there bloody is. But I can’t discuss this here today. He’ll send me back tomorrow with correspondence regarding the will. I would prefer to discuss it then, when I’m.. hopefully more prepared.” Ophelia said, not believing herself that she was actually going through with this.

The goblin nodded slowly. “I know this must be tough, but I can see you are very strong and determined, and that your son means the world to you. For both of your sakes, I do hope you will eventually find peace.”

That meant the world to Ophelia. When she eventually had to go back, she begged them not to send any letters to her address, which the goblin said they wouldn’t.

When she got back, Rohan was falling asleep in his chair. He cursed her for giving him a fright as she entered the house again. “Well? Give me the will, dammit!” He snapped.

As soon as she produced the copy, he snatched it out of her hands like a child with no manners. His hand had partly crumpled the paper, but he skimmed his eyes over it nonetheless. “Tight bitch she was,” he muttered, “only two and a half thousand for me? And that scummy brother of mine gets the same amount?! This _will_ be contested.”

Ophelia shuffled out of the room to go and make herself a cup of tea, for her throat was drying up. As Rohan was busy rambling to himself about the will’s contents and who was getting what, she couldn’t help but grin with watery eyes. Who knows, within the next week or so, she could be a happily divorced woman no longer living in fear of the man who was once a kind soul. He could be out of her life completely, and her and Theo would live happily as mother and son, with her sister and mother also by their sides.

At times, she pretended that she was in fact living in that scenario - in her imagination, where Rohan couldn’t hurt her, as he didn’t exist in there. It seemed sad for a grown woman to still imagine herself in different scenarios, but for Ophelia it was her safe haven, a sanctuary, that only she understood.

Back at Hogwarts, Umbridge for some reason seemed ever more determined to have every aspect of Hogwarts way of life under her own personal control. She brought out Educational Decree Number 26, which banned teachers from giving students any information not strictly related to the subjects they were paid to teach. By far the most ridiculous and old-fashioned one yet prohibited boys and girls from being within eight inches of each other; which meant couples could barely kiss before being forced apart. Hagrid had been put on probation like Trelawney, to the fury of the five of them and half the school, and every Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson was conducted with Umbridge lurking nearby with her clipboard, and Ron claimed that Trelawney was as batty as ever regarding her cooking sherry and predictions.

The DA was going fluently, with the Senior group spending half of their Saturday sessions learning new jinxes and counter-jinxes, and the other half was dedicated to working by themselves on their Patronus Charms, which still hadn’t been mastered by anybody. The Junior group were working steadily on more offensive and defensive spells, and Harry decided he could probably start teaching them about duels as soon as next week. 

On Tuesday evening, Harry, Amelia and Dorea made their way to Dolores Umbridge’s office once again, as she had given them a week's worth of detention after their poor marks in the recent Defence essay’s (though she had marked them down on purpose just to be able to punish them). They had no clue if another week's worth of detentions would ever allow their carved hands to properly heal up, as they’d used the Blood Quill so many times now it was probably so deep a wound. When the detention was done, they came back to the common room earlier than Ron and Hermione did - as they two of them were with the other Prefects helping the teachers get the castle decorated for Christmas (Ron claimed that Peeves tried to strangle him with the other end of tinsel as he was trying to pin it up). 

On Wednesday after Astronomy last period, Dorea, Harry and Amelia stayed behind to speak to Sirius - they were going to ask him if Theo could stay with them (they were that busy they hadn’t had the chance to even spend time with him). Ron and Hermione were going to wait for them outside (they also supported the idea).

“I feel like we barely get time to talk!” Sirius said as he turned to them, “You fifth years must be sick of homework, and I’m having to spend most of my time marking and getting my sleep schedule to not be all over the place.”

“Homework is pretty desperate, but at least the deadlines are a bit longer,” Amelia said, her twin and godsister nodding vigorously.

“I think the next weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend, and there’s another one two weeks from now, the week before Christmas holidays - how about we all spend some time together in the Three Broomsticks this weekend? I know you all have tonnes of friends now, but I’ll only take up half an hour of your time.” Sirius said, smiling. They nodded their heads in agreement.

“There’s something else,” Amelia said, and Sirius perked up. “One of our friends - Theo Nott, - has been kicked out of his house permanently by his father for stupid reasons. He can’t go home at all, he’s practically homeless. It is our wish that he come and live with us at Black Manor.”

Sirius’s eyes twinkled. He looked between the three of them. “That’s a really kind thing to do, you know.” He said softly, then looked in particular at Amelia and Harry. “It’s something your father did to me; welcomed me into his home after I was kicked out. It’s like he’s reincarnated into you… Amazing. Of course Mr Nott can stay with us.”

Theo was simply relieved when they told him he now had a place to stay. He even hugged the three of them joyously. Amelia couldn’t help but feel fuzzy when he hugged her; his hands felt soft on her back, and his smile was so big he looked like the Cheshire cat. She was also sure his eyes softened when they made eye contact. It was an odd feeling, like no other, and something that weirdly only happened when she was around him...

The week passed quite quickly, though the three of them had detention every night still, they passed as usual - well, as normally as any detention under Umbridge’s torture could go. On Thursday evening, Harry, Amelia and Dorea made their way to Umbridge's office, where another few hours of certain hell awaited them.  
Harry entered rather reluctantly, his sister and godsister following suit, and Dolores Jane Umbridge was sat expectantly at her desk, a toad-like smile on her face and her cat portraits making noise behind her. "Good evening, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, and Miss Black."   
"Evening, Professor." The three of them said in unison, with certain reluctance due to the fact they sounded like primary school children reciting their teacher.   
"Take your usual seats and get started. You know what to do. I have to mark tonnes of essays, so I'd prefer it if none of you disturbed me." Umbridge told them and smiled at them as if they really were just writing normal lines.   
With a shuddering look at the Blood Quill, Harry sat down and got started, but not before he remembered what he had to ask her. "Professor?" At that, Umbridge looked up, slightly aggravated.   
"Yes, Mr Potter?"   
"We were wondering; could we only spend a few hours with you tonight, as we really need to finish off a star cluster chart for Astronomy, and they’re only present in the sky tonight. So can we only spend, say, two hours in detention tonight and make up the lost time in the rest of the week's detentions?” Harry asked, knowing that he could have simplified his wording, but yet he knew Professor Umbridge’s answer right away.

“I’m afraid not, Mr Potter. You will stay full time tonight.”

“But don’t you see? We can’t do a star clusters chart any other day - they’re only visible in the sky _tonight_ !” Amelia argued.   
"That's quite enough, Miss Potter. The answer is no, and that is final." Umbridge said sharply, but then immediately relaxed. "Now do your lines."   
With a collective readiness, the three of them started doing their lines. It didn't take long before they were silently hissing and their hands were bright red with blood again. Dorea looked as though she wanted to cry.   
Half an hour in and their blood was running freely, and Umbridge looked gleeful.   
"I can't do this," Dorea whimpered very quietly with glassy eyes, determined not to show weakness in front of that horrible woman.   
"If we told Sirius, he'd have her reported-" Amelia whispered, putting her free arm on her godsister's shoulder to comfort her.   
"-Fudge wouldn't let that happen, and we know he'd sack Sirius instead." Harry grumbled. He was very thankful that The Toad couldn't hear them.   
Harry could have sworn that he heard muffled voices outside the office, but shrugged it off and carried on with the task.   
Everyone got the fright of their lives when the office door was blasted off its hinges, sending dust all over the place, and Harry could have rejoiced there and then. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance stood in the doorway, wands drawn, whilst Lupin and Tonks stepped forward to grab Umbridge by her arms.   
"Miss Dolores Umbridge," Kingsley's calm voice had a ring of hatred through it. "You are under arrest until further notice for the use of an illegal Blood Quill on Hogwarts students, and for countless breaching of teaching rules. You will be escorted to the Ministry's holding cells to await further questioning to determine your sentence.”   
Harry looked at Amelia and Dorea, who looked as though they were about to cry of happiness. Tonks and Remus started dragging Umbridge away - there wasn’t a more satisfying sound than Umbridge screeching bloody murder.   
Dorea did burst out crying, and Hestia, along with Emmeline, stepped forward and comforted her. "Don't worry, dear, she won't be teaching at this school ever again." Hestia offered her a handkerchief.   
Harry turned to Kingsley. "On behalf of the whole population of Hogwarts excluding some of Slytherin House, thank bloody Merlin for that."   
The man smirked at that. "We alerted Amelia Bones of accounts given in secret by various students, saying that they were sometimes being physically as well as verbally assaulted by that vile woman. She gave us the all clear to arrest her."   
"Wait, so Fudge-"   
"-Is about to know." Kingsley looked very pleased with himself.   
"He won't be very happy."   
"He won't be happy anyway, because people have voted him out of office."   
"Am I dreaming?" Amelia grinned as Emmeline wrapped her hand to stop the bleeding. "That cow gone, Fudge hopefully gone, today couldn't get any better."   
Harry as well felt as though he was on cloud nine.   
They could also hear Umbridge's shouting as she was escorted down the staircase, and nothing gave them more joy than hearing her reaction to being exposed.   
"Who will become our new Professor? And who's favourite to be Minister for Magic?" Dorea had calmed down now, but her face was still slightly wet.   
"Your new Professor will be me."   
They all turned, and Lupin was stood grinning.   
Harry pinched himself. This was all too good to be true.   
"As for Minister, well, the polls do suggest Amelia Bones."   
Harry had encountered Madam Bones at his Ministry hearing that summer, and whilst she was quite sharp with him, almost intimidating, her eyes held a kindness to them, and he could tell that she despised Fudge. He knew her niece, Susan, very well too, and she spoke highly of her aunt, so he was delighted at the prospect that they were hopefully getting a fair but to-the-point new Minister, who would actually prepare them for the inevitable public return of Voldemort.   
Once the three of them were patched up, Kingsley and co walked them downstairs, specifically to Dumbledore's office. When they entered, the Headmaster was sitting at his desk, and also there was Moody and a furious Fudge, along with Percy Weasley. "Oh no, not _them_ . Everyone's least favourite cursed, lying children." Cornelius growled with a look of hatred similar to Uncle Vernon's.   
"Nip it, Cornelius!" Moody barked, which instantly had Fudge quivering.   
"I wonder what lies they'll tell this time about poor Dolores-"   
"-they'll tell no lies, Cornelius." Dumbledore said calmly, although Harry glanced a look of hatred in his eyes.   
"Oh ho, and how will you know that Albus? What story have you prepared for them to tell in advance?" Fudge said arrogantly, and Percy let out a laugh.   
Dumbledore pulled a bottle out of his drawer, and in it was a queer looking liquid. "Veritaserum, Cornelius. Works wonders, as you know yourself."   
Cornelius Fudge started blabbering. He knew himself that he'd lost this battle. "T-there are ways to overcome Veritaserum, o-oh yes there is, and surely those _tyrants_ know of those m-methods-"   
-For god's sake, Cornelius, they're fifth years! They haven't even discussed Veritaserum in Potions yet!" Moody barked again, sending his electric blue eye haywire.   
"Enough, gentlemen, let's get this over with." Albus then turned to them. "Dorea, do you consent to being questioned under this truth potion?"   
Dorea nodded, although was hesitant in stepping forward. In the reflection of a glass cabinet, Harry could see that she shot a dirty look at the Minister and Percy. Dumbledore put three drops of the liquid in a pre-prepared cup of tea, and Dorea drank eagerly. She clearly couldn't wait to expose the truth of Umbridge to her beloved Fudge. "Dorea Andromeda Black, did Professor Dolores Umbridge make you use a Blood Quill?" Dumbledore asked with a glint in his eye.   
"Yes, sir."   
"How many times?"   
"For every detention that she put us in."   
"How long did these detentions last?"   
"They varied. They could last anywhere between two to six hours."   
"What else did she say or do in these detentions?"   
"In one of them she verbally abused me, saying that I wasn't worthy to be a Black and that my mother deserved the fate she got." Harry and Amelia tensed, as they had been there when Umbridge said that. Dorea continued, “She also grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, saying how I was nothing but a thick and worthless excuse of a human and made threats about my father."   
Harry dared a glance at Fudge and Percy, and was not disappointed. They had their mouths hanging open, and he couldn't wait to hear their excuses for this. Harry and Amelia shared a triumphant glance with Kingsley.   
"Do you know of any other students that experienced what you and your god siblings went through?"   
"Yes. Lee Jordan, Tulip Karasu, Fred Weasley and George Weasley have been forced to use a Blood Quill in their detentions with Professor Umbridge, though they had far less detentions with her than we did."   
Dumbledore concluded her questioning and relieved her of the potion before calling Harry forward. He was asked mostly the same questions and answered them truthfully, as he was naturally bid. When Amelia's questioning was finished, everyone turned to look at Fudge, who was slightly sweating.   
"B-but Dolores.. She's a lovely woman.. These students are just far too arrogant for their own good! Kids these days have no respect for their superiors!" He ranted, blubbering and stammering. Percy still stood with his head held high, although he was lost for words and defeated.   
"The Daily Prophet has been informed of Dolores's treachery, Cornelius, and also of your schemes. You might want to say a final goodbye to your office, as the Ancient and Noble families, along with the Wizengamot, have casted a vote - you've been voted out of office by a majority of 58% to 42%. I dare say that your time in office was.. What everyone expected of you." Dumbledore said. Fudge paled, and stormed to the fireplace to Floo back to the Ministry, Percy following.   
"What's to be done now, Albus?" Moody asked after the now ex-Minister and his ex-Junior Personal Assistant had left.   
"Well, first things first, there's an assembly to be held. Kingsley, round up Minerva, Pomona and Filius, and tell them to get their students assembled downstairs in the Great Hall. I'll alert Severus just now." Dumbledore then pulled out his wand and sent a Patronus message to Snape. "You three can head down to the Great Hall now." Albus smiled at them.   
Word seemed to spread unnaturally fast, as when Harry, Dorea and Amelia were walking down the staircase, the whole school seemed to be stampeding down the stairs behind them, eager to know why they were being summoned at this hour. Some of the members of the DA caught up with them.   
"Guys, what's going on?' Justin Finch-Fletchley looked curious.   
"Oh, a miracle has happened." Amelia replied, looking very gleeful, which made Justin ever more curious.   
Within ten minutes, the whole school was sat in the Great Hall, everyone asking what on earth had happened. Harry saw that Sirius was at the staff table, and was in a conversation with Professor Vector. He looked a bit concerned.   
"Silence!" Albus Dumbledore spoke as he strode into the hall to take his place at the podium, and the voices died down immediately. "All of you are probably wondering why you all have been summoned at this hour from your common rooms. An hour ago, the Ministry of Magic were alerted to a certain teacher in this school who, it's fair to say, was abusing her position of power quite severely. Some of you will know exactly who I'm referring to, others may not. Dolores Jane Umbridge is no longer in employment here at Hogwarts-"   
Dumbledore was cut off by a massive uproar of cheers and whoops of delight from most of the Hall. Even some Slytherin's were elated. It took almost five minutes before the celebrations died down. "Professor Umbridge was sacked tonight for having in her possession a Blood Quill, which a good few of you know what it does. For those that don't know, Blood Quills are special quills designed to not need ink, - but instead of ink, you simply write with it, and it absorbs your blood and writes with it instead. On top of that, it carves whatever you're writing into the back of your hand, and leaves scars that can take up to ten years to heal, depending on how many times you've written it." Gasps of horror then came from the students, and the DA members were now looking at Harry's hand as an example as he'd shown them Umbridge's treachery. Some of the first and second years looked as though they were about to faint or vomit or both.   
"Umbridge also, as a lot of you guessed, was employed here by the Ministry to change the way we live here, - and to spy. A few of you found yourselves being banned from Quidditch for a lifetime" (a lot of the Gryffindor's turned to look at Harry, Fred and George sympathetically) "-and I'm pleased to say, that ban is now lifted."

Harry lit up then. He was finally allowed to play Quidditch again! This night couldn't get any better. He couldn't wait to get back out and play again, although he felt bad as it meant that Amelia would be back to being a reserve Seeker.  
"It may also come as a surprise to some of you that our Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, has been sacked from office in this last half hour." Dumbledore spoke with a grin at that.   
"My mum voted for him to be sacked!" Hannah Abbot whispered to Harry, making him smile.   
Harry glanced around the Hall then. A good few of the Slytherin's belonging to pure-blood families were looking murderous. He could see that Malfoy was angrily ranting to Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy, - clearly their mothers and fathers voted to keep Fudge in office. Other Slytherin's - including Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, looked like kids on Christmas morning. They smiled at Harry and gave him the thumbs up.   
"We do not yet have a confirmed new Minister for Magic - the Wizengamot, along with the Ancient and Noble Houses, haven't cast a vote yet, but I'm delighted to announce that as of tomorrow, you will all have a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor - a very capable one who will bring you up to scratch in no time and will actually teach you theory and practical. A lot of you will have met him already, and without further ado, please welcome back Professor Remus Lupin!"   
The cheers for Lupin's return were twice as loud as the cheers commencing a few minutes ago when Umbridge's sacking was announced. Almost all of the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables were on their feet, as well as half of Slytherin, whistling and cheering alike as Remus emerged from the door behind the staff table, very touched by the reception he was receiving. Everybody cheering didn't seem to mind nor care that Lupin was discovered as a werewolf almost two years ago.   
Harry could see that Sirius was very proud and happy - not only was he teaching, but he'd now be a colleague to his best friend. He too was on his feet and Harry saw him give a murderous grin to Snape, who was sat at the opposite end of the staff table and was very pale and angry.   
To Harry, Hogwarts had never felt more warm nor safe.   
The speech now finished, Dumbledore then sent them all back up to their common rooms, and the atmosphere never felt more bubbly.

  
The next morning, the Gryffindor fifth years had Defence sixth period, which they were all excited about as it would be their first lesson back having Lupin.   
"How exactly do you think he'll bring us all back up to scratch? We're basically three months behind, and our exam is in June, we've got so much to learn!" Dean Thomas pondered at breakfast.   
"He might do lots of lessons with us but I bet he'll give out lots of homework to catch us up." Ron said after swallowing a mouthful of fried egg.   
On Friday’s, they had Herbology straight after lunch, which in today’s case meant that they’d have Remus for Defence next. The whole class seemed to notice that Professor Sprout was a lot more cheery and chirpier than usual. She also shared with them her delight of having Umbridge gone and with no shame at all berated the woman, causing the class to clap wildly. She even let them finish twenty minutes early (after everyone had cared for their Chinese Chomping Cabbages, of course) and said that their only homework was to write two paragraphs on its uses in Herbology as well as in Potions.   
When the bell rang to signal the end of the fifth period, they practically burst out of the greenhouse and sprinted back to the castle. They then all stood eagerly outside the Defence classroom and were bouncing on the balls of their feet practically - none of them could hardly wait to have a proper Defence lesson.   
They didn't have long to wait, as within a minute, Professor Lupin opened the door and stood aside to let the students in. Most of the class said "Welcome back, Professor" as they entered, which Harry could tell touched his honorary uncle quite a lot.   
"Thank you everyone, for your kind words as you all entered. Now, it's a shame I wasn't reunited with you all sooner than this, as you practically have to learn the whole OWL curriculum that has been officially reinstated. We've got a lot to cover before June, and ideally I want us to be finished with the course before Easter so we have plenty of time to do revision. That being said, all of you will have to cooperate and be prepared to master a lot of spells, some of which you may need to practise outside this classroom - not on each other of course, mind. So with that, let's get started." Lupin then paused. "I suspect you all are sick and tired of theory work?"   
The class murmured a yes.   
"Up on your feet, then. Today will be a practical." Lupin said, and the class started cheering. This would be their first practical lesson since the end of fourth year.   
Lupin banished the desks to the sides of the classroom, and even people like Malfoy were looking eager to not be sat reading a dumbed-down textbook. “Now, I know that Professor Umbridge didn’t have you learning any magic at all, so I think we should start today with a spell normally taught at OWL Defence that is quite simple to master: the Smokescreen Spell.”

Remus was right: for an OWL spell, it was almost too easy, and the class managed to master it easily by the end of the period. Harry learned it was one of the few spells that didn’t take into account your stance or wand movement - so long as you just said “ _Fumos!”_ clearly enough it would be cast regardless, though the smoke came out in various degrees of grey depending how long it was cast for.

At the end of the class, Remus talked to them for a minute. “Hope I wasn’t too easy on you lot - the other spells in the curriculum are only going to get harder.” He grinned, and Harry noticed the man's scars had faded significantly.

“You were brilliant!” Ron praised.

“Yeah, we’re definitely on course to pass our OWL in Defence now that you’re back!” Hermione said brightly. 

Remus turned to Harry as the others started walking off for last period - which was Ancient Runes for Harry, Hermione, Amelia and Dorea, but Ron had Divination. “How’s the DA going then?”

“Well, Umbridge didn’t let it reform after she brought out Educational Decree Number 24.” Harry said.

“What?” This was clearly news to Remus.

Harry decided to come clean. “Do you promise not to tell anyone?” At Remus’s nod, he carried on. “I’ve carried on teaching the DA regardless; in a secret room, right under her nose, and she never found out.”

Remus looked at him sharply. “Harry, that would have got you and your friends expelled had she discovered your plotting!”

He put his hands up. “I know, I know, but I took every precaution. Dobby helped me out too, and she never found us, so she couldn’t expel us!”

Remus sighed. “Did Sirius know about this? Hell, he probably encouraged it.”

“No, I didn’t even tell him, nor anyone else except the DA members.” Harry said. “It was all for good reason - both groups would have fallen dramatically behind if I hadn’t.”

Remus didn’t look convinced. Eventually, Harry had to go to Runes, but before he left Remus called out, “What secret room are you holding the meetings in?”

Harry turned to his honorary uncle and simply said, “A room on the seventh floor,” before grinning at his confused expression before hurrying away to Ancient Runes.


	20. A Decleration of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo and Amelia have a little time alone together... where Theo admits something ;)  
> Next Chapter: The gang goes to visit Arthur in hospital, where they make a discovery regarding Neville's parents. Christmas looms.

That Saturday was a Hogsmeade weekend, and it seemed every student had the same idea: to start buying Christmas presents for friends and family. Those in the DA in particular were ladened with bags - everyone had made so many friends, it was hard to keep track of who to buy for. Harry was thankful that there was another Hogsmeade weekend two weeks from now - he was definitely needing more time to gage his friends' ideas of what they wanted in order to narrow down what to buy them.

During the DA session that evening, Harry was very impressed that some Patronuses had started to emerge throughout the Senior group. It was mostly among the sixth and seventh years that were getting closer to achieving their corporeal forms, but some of the fifth years were catching up. About halfway through the session, Terry Boot managed to conjure up a Patronus, which took the form of a sparrowhawk. Everyone applauded him, and Terry basked in the praise, rightly so. Next to achieve it was some seventh years; among them Angelina, which he was delighted at. Hermione’s took the form of an otter, Ron’s a Jack Russell dog, Amelia’s a leopard, and Dorea’s was an Irish Wolfhound dog - Harry couldn’t help but think it looked a lot like Padfoot. 

Luna managed to stay pretty focused, as her patronus - a hare, - sped around the room before returning to her wand. Blaise Zabini, on his fifth attempt, managed to conjure up a Patronus that seemed to resemble a barn owl. Ginny produced a spectacular horse. Harry noticed Theo getting a bit stressed out with himself, he was having a bit of trouble. Harry kind of wished Professor Flitwick was here to give advice, as plenty of people were still struggling and he couldn’t get round them all. He went over. “Don’t push yourself too hard, Theo,” he said, placing a hand on his friends shoulder.

“I don’t think my memory is happy enough,” Theo said weakly, “I’ll keep at it though.”

By the end of that session, only two more people had managed to conjure up a Patronus, but more and more people had managed to produce ropes of silver from the end of their wands, rather than just little wisps. He stood near the front. “I’m really, really impressed with you all today.” He said, smiling, “Next session, I think we’ll have a break from Patronuses, and get back to learning more spells. Keep practising at your Patronuses, though! There’s no rush at all to get it under your belts. Next week, I think it will be the last session before the holiday’s, to give us a break, as there’d be no point learning anything new on the final week before break.” The room let out ‘aww’s’ at that, but understood. Everyone praised Harry when the house elves arrived to take everyone back to their dormitories.

On Sunday, which was normally the quieter and less-busy days of Hogsmeade weekends, Harry, Amelia and Dorea went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch with Sirius. It felt weird having something akin to a catch-up, as they had Sirius for Astronomy, and they lived under the same building 24/7, yet both students and teachers had barely a day to themselves nowadays. Sirius was telling them about how his days were basically planning lessons, teaching, marking, eating, and sleeping - a routine repeated five days of the week. “ _ Never  _ become a teacher, guys, it’ll consume half your life.” Sirius had half-joked as they sipped butterbeer. “How is it, having Remus back teaching?” 

“It’s so much better, we’re finally learning stuff!” Harry replied, the girls agreeing.

Sirius grinned knowingly. He would have invited Remus to their lunch, but he was attending a teachers meeting with McGonagall in his stead - where, unbeknownst to the Gryffindor fifth years, they were actually meeting to discuss each student’s marks in classes so far. Sirius made a note to ask his best friend about how the three people in front of him were getting on grades-wise, as fifth year was a tough year, and they looked a bit worn out.

“It’s weird how Dumbledore has let you, Fred and George back on the Quidditch team but hasn’t said a word about your club - Umbridge didn’t reinstate it, yeah?” Sirius said.

Harry, Amelia and Dorea glanced at each other - should they tell Sirius that the DA had actually been meeting, in secret? They didn’t quite know how he would react - Sirius was a bit of a rule breaker himself, but they doubted very much he’d done anything so serious and defying it risked expulsion.

They were saved from having to answer him, for Madam Rosmerta arrived with their lunch. Harry noticed Rosmerta eye Sirius in something that was definitely more than friendly, but it was lost on his godfather. He almost smirked.

Sirius seemed to have forgotten he ever asked them a question, as they just carried on talking about anything and everything. He asked them how their future house-mate Theo was coping and getting on. Harry explained that though he seemed fine, he was clearly still divided regarding the matter of his father, and probably felt guilty not being able to protect his mother. 

When they finished their lunch and paid, they walked back up to the school. Sirius kept hinting that he’d gotten them really good presents for Christmas, but didn’t let slip as to what they were. That only made them more curious, but ever more excited for the Christmas holidays - which were only just over two weeks away now.

When they got back into the Entrance Hall and rubbed their shoes of laying snow, Amelia said that she was going to find Theo - though she said to Sirius that she was going to help him with homework, both Harry and Dorea knew that she was actually going to help him with his Patronus in the Room of Requirement. 

Back in the dungeons, Theo was sitting on his bed in the boys dormitory, trying to get all his homework done before he was meeting Amelia in the Room of Requirement at half past two to work on his Patronus. Blaise sat opposite, on his own bed, looking way more relaxed and chilled out. “You, really like Amelia Potter, don’t you.” Blaise said all of a sudden.

Theo, who was getting a textbook out of his bag, had almost given himself whiplash when he whipped around to face his friend, who was sitting with his legs crossed on his bed.

“Blaise, we are not discussing this now.” Theo said, gesturing towards the door, where at any moment, Crabbe, Goyle or even Draco could flaunt in and hear them. 

“They never come into the dorm except at bedtime,” Blaise reasoned, “and they aren’t going to start studying anytime soon, so they’re not going to barge in.”

“You never know, though.” Theo said weakly.

Blaise pointed his wand at the dormitory door, and performed the Locking Charm. “There, does that quell your worries, Theodore?” 

He didn’t bother replying, and instead tried to get back to writing his Astronomy essay.  _ But Sirius was their Astronomy teacher, and Sirius was Amelia’s godfather…  _ “Urgh, I give up.” Theo complained, slamming his notebook shut as he firmly gave up on starting the essay.  _ It’s not due until next week anyway. _

“A certain Potter on your mind?” Blaise said, grinning.

“Yes, alright! She is!” He almost shouted. 

Blaise, though he looked surprised at his best friend's outburst, soon barked laughter. “Oh dear, Theodore, I support you, I’m just winding you up.”

“It’s like something I’ve never felt before,” Theo explained, “Y’know how there’s that love you have for, oh I don’t know, parents?” At Blaise’s scoff, Theo realised. “Well, in  _ my _ case, at least  _ one _ of my parents. But then there’s a  _ different  _ love, y’know, the one that makes you giddy. Where you cannot take your eyes off them. That’s what I’m feeling for Amelia, Blaise.” 

“I know fine well what love is, Theo, are you forgetting I fancy Amelia’s own godsister?” Blaise sniggered.

“Yeah, well at least Amelia is very much single. Sucks for you to fancy a girl already taken.” He said, leaning back against his pillows, schoolwork long forgotten.

“I respect her relationship” Blaise added, “but she could do a lot better.”

“Like date you?” Theo harrumphed.

“Yes.” Was his mate's response. He chuckled again. 

They were in comfortable silence then - all they could hear were the talking and laughing coming from the common room. They even heard people head up the stairs from time to time - going to their perspective dorms, he guessed.

He was about to ask Blaise if he wanted to see Theo’s new Chocolate Frog selection box his mother had sent that morning when a hammering at their dormitory door gave them a fright,

“Blaise, why is this bloody door locked? Is Theo in there?” A familiar girl's voice said on the other side.

Theo shook his head furiously at his friend. He knew it was Pansy Parkinson.  _ Why is she so obsessed with me?!  _ He thought to himself,  _ I am not interested in her! _

“No, he.. Went out for a jog.” Blaise replied, and Theo cursed the obvious uncertainty in his voice.

“I know he didn’t Blaise, else somebody would have seen him leave. And plus, it’s raining!” Pansy snapped, still trying to twist the knob on the locked door. “Now  _ open this door!” _

“Sorry, mate,” Blaise shrugged, and grabbed his wand to perform  _ Alohomora _ . Theo cringed.

The door flung open almost immediately, and Pansy stood in the doorway. 

“Girls aren’t allowed in here,” Theo said, and realised that Millicent Bulstrode was also with Pansy. 

“I don’t intend on coming in, Theodore, I wanted to ask you something.” Pansy said, staying where she was, her arms folded.

He got up off his bed and went to stand at the doorway as well. He forced himself to smile politely. “Hello Pansy.”

The girl looked at him hungrily. “Good day, Theodore.”

He grimaced at the use of his full name. “You wanted to see me?”

She lit up. “Oh yes, I just got a fabulous package from my uncle - a voucher for Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop!” 

Theo looked blankly at her, knowing where this was going. “Oh, really? That’s great.”

“It’s for two people, y’see, and, well, I was wondering if perhaps… you wanted to go with me next Hogsmeade weekend?” Pansy continued.

Theo’s heart fell. He didn’t want to outright reject Pansy, but he really didn’t want to go on a date with her either. What if Amelia saw him with her? Granted, Pansy was a pretty girl, but he had no other interest in her. “Erm…”

“Oh don’t be a sourpuss, Theo,” Millicent nudged his arm. “It’s not like you have any other plans anyway.”

“How do you know?” He retaliated, trying to sound nonplussed. “I may have a packed weekend schedule for all you know. Oh, wait,” he turned to Blaise, and held a pleading look on his face as if to say  _ ‘please go along with it _ ’, “don’t we have to do that test for McGonagall?”

Blaise, thankfully, went along with it, “Oh yeah, at midday.”

“What test?” Pansy looked between the two of them. 

“We missed the last one.” Theo said.

“How? You never miss a class!” Millicent glared.

“It’s Potter, isn’t it.” Pansy let out, eyes twitching.

“Eh?” Theo tried to look innocent, but his heart was in fact racing - if Pansy knew, then it would be disastrous. 

“You’re always spending time with  _ Potter,  _ Theo. Ever since you became apart of that stupid club he runs…”

“It’s called having friends. You should try it some time.” He blurted out, before he could even think. Millicent gasped.

“Who am I kidding? What on earth made me think that you would ever agree to go with me? I’d be better off asking Goyle to come with me!” Pansy sneered.

_ Go ask him then,  _ he thought bitterly,  _ I can’t believe all this for a stupid voucher at that stupid pink tea shop.  _ Millicent glared daggers at Theo, and led Pansy away by linking her arm. 

He turned to face Blaise again, who the whole time had been sat on his bed. “Yikes. Your acting skills need a bit of work.” Blaise smirked.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do when she basically asked me out!” Theo said haughty. “Why did she have to bring Millicent along as well?”

Blaise laughed. “I still can’t believe you said that! Where did that sass come from?”

Theo blushed. “It literally slipped out before I could even comprehend.”

The two boys stayed in relative silence after that, getting work done, even though Theo could hardly concentrate. He was still thinking of Amelia, and grimaced when he accidentally wrote in his History of Magic essay, “ _ To conclude, the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 had a number of different factors regarding its causes; with one of them being Amelia Potter.” _

As time neared closer and closer to half past two, Theo found himself losing more and more concentration. All his worries came back; what if he really wasn’t able to produce a Patronus due to coming from a family of dark wizards? What if he was incapable of producing one because of that, and it was all for naught? A million different possibilities zoomed round in his head.

“Theo!” Blaise snapped him back to reality.

“Sorry, what?” Theo rubbed his temples.

“It’s twenty minutes past two, you should hop along to the Room of Requirement and await Miss Amelia’s arrival.” Blaise said, and Theo jumped off his bed immediately. Grabbing his wand, he strode towards the door, hoping he didn’t run into Pansy on his way out. Just as he went to pull the doorknob, did Blaise speak again. “Y’know, it would be a great time to tell her how you really feel, mate.”

He turned to his best friend. “Do you honestly think she sees me in that way?”

Blaise pouted and shrugged. “Won’t know unless you try.”

With that thought lingering in his head, Theo left their dorm, and exited the common room without too much hassle.

“Urgh! It’s pointless, Amelia, I’m never going to get my Patronus.” Theo said, frustrated, as they were forty minutes into their time together and yet the Charm still wasn’t succeeding.

“Theo, you can’t give up now! This spell could save your life one day. Maybe it’s the memory that’s not happy enough?” Amelia Potter persisted. She was sitting on one of the crates.

“Try living in a house with my father, you’ll soon realise that happiness seems to be illegal when he’s around.” He almost snapped, but restrained himself and instead just rubbed his temples.

Amelia gave him a curious look. “Then maybe try to find a memory with your mother… She’s not like your dad, is she?”

“No, she’s an angel.” He admitted, thinking of his mother, Ophelia.  _ How she puts up with dad, I’ll never know,  _ he thought,  _ their marriage may have been happy once - before Voldemort, but that spark was long gone. _

“Has she ever.. I don’t know, done something for you? I’m not quite sure what it’s like to have a mum.” Amelia said, a bit awkwardly.

“Her, my aunt and granny once took me to Daphne’s birthday party when I was like, six.” He remembered.

“You knew Daph before Hogwarts?” Amelia looked surprised.

“The Greengrass’s are pure-bloods, but they’re supportive of muggles. Daph and Astoria’s mum went to Hogwarts with my mum and aunt, they’re best friends. Of course my dad doesn’t let her visit them a lot, but when we do it’s really great.” He paused, trying to remember the birthday party. “I remember it being so… fun. It was like a special day out. I even went on one of those muggle fairground rides - the carousel, I think? I remember just having a go on the carousel, and when it went faster, I just felt so.. Free. Like a proper child should. There was this really tall slide too - I must’ve had about ten goes on it. Just the feeling of running around with the other kids - it was so different to the strict home life my father imposed.”

Amelia was looking at him thoughtfully. He almost melted. She didn’t look pitiful at all - she was just listening, and that was what Theo needed. Somebody who he could rattle off too. Blaise and Barnaby were great, but they didn’t understand as much. “Focus on that memory, then. If it made you feel freedom for the first time, then it surely counts as being a happy memory.” Amelia instructed. She stood up again and went to stand next to him.

He took that as his cue to ready his wand. He took a few moments to prepare himself.  _ I WILL get my Patronus today!  _ He said to himself as motivation. He wanted that stress off his shoulders, so that he was at the same level as everybody else in the DA. 

With the memory of him whooping with delight as he went down the inflatable slide still at the forefront of his mind, Theodore pointed his wand and, focusing so hard on the memory, said, “ _ Expecto Patronum!” _

He couldn’t believe it - a few ropes of silver erupted from the end of his wand, whereas before it was just wisps. He didn’t let that distract him though - he couldn’t risk taking his mind off the memory. 

“Keep going, Theo! That’s it! You’re almost there!” Amelia praised him as he heard her clap her hands together. 

The memory of him riding the carousel was floating in his mind, and he could almost see it perfectly. He spoke the incantation again, “ _ Expecto Patronum!” _

This time, it was more than enough, as more ropes of silver formed together to create a distinct form - his Patronus took the form of an albatross. It flew forward and did a few loops midair around him and Amelia, before it disappeared.

Both he and Amelia were breathless as they looked at each other. He hooted with delight at his success. “I did it, Amelia! I did it!”

“Oh, Theo!” His heart raced even more when she launched herself into his arms and hugged him. “I knew that you could do it!”

He hugged her back, and they stayed like that for a good few seconds. His hand even found her waist, whilst the other found the back of her head. 

It was her that pulled back. She looked into his eyes, and he did the same. He could feel his heart warm with love.  _ She’s just so  _ **_beautiful,_ ** he thought,  _ it almost hurts. _

_ Tell her!  _ His brain was all but screaming at him,  _ Tell her you love her, before some other boy snatches her up!  _

“Amelia,” he found himself saying, “I-I need to tell you something.”

“Oh, do you? Well, go on.” She urged him.

_ Oh god,  _ he regretted even saying that,  _ she’s going to reject me, I just know she is!  _ “T-thanks for helping me with the Patronus,” he said, nervously.

“Oh Theo, no need to thank me-”

“-N-no, really, I couldn’t have achieved it without you.” He hated that he cut her off, but she didn’t look bothered.

“Theo, you sound a bit shaky? Did it take a lot out of you?” She pondered.

_ Here goes nothing.  _ “That’s because there’s something else I need to say.”

He couldn’t help but notice that her eyes lit up. “Oh, really?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat, “Amelia Potter, you have, truth be told,  _ entranced _ me ever since the start of fifth year. I cannot stop thinking about you nor looking out for you. I’m sure you’ve, erm, noticed me staring, and there’s a reason for that. You… I don’t know how to word this.. You have really blossomed into a simply  _ stunning  _ girl this year. I’m not saying that you weren’t pretty before - you were - it’s just that.. You’ve grown, and you no longer look like a child. It’s not just your looks that I love, but your personality too. Starting up the DA with your brother - that must’ve been nerve wracking, especially with some Slytherin’s joining, but you showed courage and didn’t assume that somebody was evil because of their house or family. All the friends you’ve made - all of the friends everybody has made, have all been down to you partly.”

He paused to take in her initial reaction. She looked stunned, but she was also very touched. He continued. “Can I hold your hand?” he asked, and she nodded right away. Holding her hand for the first time felt magical. Her skin was so smooth, and her fingers so slender. They moulded with his hand perfectly. “You are brave, funny, smart, kind… You are everything I want in a girl. Everyone loves you. I’ve seen younger students look at you in pure awe as you walk the corridors. Your friends  _ adore  _ you. When I see you walk into the Great Hall every morning, I cannot believe that you are real.” He concluded.

Amelia’s heart was  _ pounding.  _ She wondered if he could also feel her pulse as he held her hand. He raised his other hand, and delicately ran it through her slightly wavy hair. “These locks of yours.. I’ve always wanted to run my hands through them.” He said quietly. She giggled, and smiled down at the ground. “Theo..” Was all she could say. Even though she had an inkling he liked her, she didn’t realise he liked her this much.

“Amelia Lily Potter, will you make me the happiest boy in the world and… be my girlfriend?” Theodore Nott asked her, his voice so gentle, as if he was scared.

She felt happy tears come to her eyes. She burst out into a smile. “Yes!” She answered breathily. “Yes! A thousand times yes!”

He spun her around for a hug. They even let out a few squeals. In a moment of tenderness, Theo leaned in and kissed her cheek. His lips were so soft on her skin.

“Do you.. Want to kiss me?” She whispered to him.

He lit up. “Only if you’re willing, my love.”

She giggled, and then realised that this would be the first ever time she would be kissing a boy on the lips.  _ Oh gosh, what if I’m really bad?  _ She suddenly fretted. 

All those worries went away though, when her eyes closed in pure bliss as he attached his lips to hers. It was as if she knew what to do - but in reality she just did what she felt was natural. It was such a sweet kiss she didn’t want it to end.

Amelia had a feeling that Theodore Nott would now have two happy memories to go on for his Patronus to work.

Theo didn’t even remember making his way back to the Slytherin common room as he bid farewell to his girlfriend. It felt like he was floating - or as the muggles said, on cloud nine. He was still a bit dazed. As he got to the door, he noticed Professor Snape coming around the corner. “Mr Nott.” The man said in gruff greeting.

“Hello, Professor.” He said, in a voice a few octaves higher than normal.

“You’re far too happy, Theodore.” The man commented in his usual monotone voice, and looked at him suspiciously. 

“Oh, well, I’ve just got myself a girlfriend, sir.” Theo blurted out.  _ Oh gosh, I shouldn’t have done that,  _ he thought suddenly,  _ please don’t ask who I’m dating…. _

“Wonderful.” Snape said, but his facial reaction screamed it was anything but that. With that, the Potions master went back into the Potion ingredients storage room without another word.

_ Phew, thank god for that.  _ He spoke the password for the common room, as stepped inside.

As soon as he stepped into the dorm, he was hounded by Blaise. “So, how was your hour with Miss Potter?”

“Blaise, mate, I asked her out.”

Blaise Zabini’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Jesus, mate, I didn’t know you had it in you, what did she say then?”

“She said yes!” He chirped.

Blaise all but hooted, and did a few celebrations. “Did you actually learn the Patronus Charm, then, or did you just snog her for the hour?”

“Oh, mate, I did manage to get it this time!” Theo replied, “It took the form of an albatross bird.”

“Nice,” Blaise high-fived him. “I read something about them once - they tend to have one partner for life.”

Theo realised what he was getting at. “So does that mean me and Amelia are going to be together until we die?”

“Barring any hiccups, yeah, most likely. Patronus’s have that symbolic meaning, that’s why they differ to every person - everyone has different qualities that they might share with a particular animal.” Blaise said.

“Alright, mate, that's enough academia for one day. You sound like Hermione.” Theo chuckled.

Blaise barked laughter. “And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We should tell Barnaby, wherever he is.”   
“He said he was finishing off an essay for his Care of Magical Creatures class,” Theo said, “but knowing him, he’s probably been distracted by something else.”

Barnaby was, in fact, revising with Diego Caplan in the Great Hall. When they pulled him aside to tell him, his mouth hung open for about two minutes - probably not even thinking that Theo had it in him to ask a pretty girl out. The three boys had to talk a lot quieter when Professor Black walked past them. Theo then realised; at some point, he and Amelia would have to announce that they’re dating, and that included telling not only Harry, Ron and Dorea, but Sirius Black as well. He had no clue how he in particular would react; for he knew he was very protective over both his daughter and godchildren. He figured that he and Amelia could probably do exactly what Dorea and Fred had to do; date in secret.

When Amelia got back to the common room, she didn’t realise she was still smiling from her hour with Theo - who, miraculously, was now her bloody boyfriend. She still felt extremely giddy and excited, for her cheeks were sore from smiling and giggling.

“Did you and Theo do it, then?” Harry asked from the couch, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Amelia was confused, and did a double take. “Pardon?”

Harry looked at her oddly. “Did you help Theo master the Patronus?”

“Oh.. Oh, yeah! He did it eventually. His took the form of an albatross bird.” She replied, flushing a bit.

“That’s great!” Harry smiled.

“It’s good he finally got it buckled down,” Ron said, happy for Theo, “it was weighing him down - being a bit behind everyone.”

Amelia nodded emphatically, and she noticed that Dorea and Hermione were giving her funny looks and smirking. Even Parvati and Lavender were looking at her with an expression of knowing. She gestured to them to follow her to the dorm. Ginny got up and joined them too.

“Amelia Potter,” Lavender started,

“You and Theodore Nott are practically  _ made _ for each other!” Parvati continued.

“If you can’t see that he fancies you like mad, you’re as blind as a bat.” Came from Hermione.

“I’ve seen you two looking at each other, more than once,” Dorea said, grinning, “you’re catching feelings.”

“You two would be adorable together, Amelia,  _ adorable _ !” Ginny said brightly, the girls nodding.

Amelia tried so hard not to burst out smiling. Evening her tone out, she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about - we’re dating.”

The girls' faces were priceless. Almost all at once, they let out shrieks and excited noises and started jumping around, asking about a million different questions of exactly how he asked her out. When she told them, they were clutching their chests and pouting, saying how cute Theo had been in everything he did and said. They vowed to keep it a secret and not to mention it around anyone else (in particular: the boys, and Sirius). 

The next week seemed to pass quite slowly, and the professors were starting to hit the brakes slightly in terms of teaching. They didn’t really go over anything new in their classes (apart from Defence, where Remus was really working them hard), and instead the teachers treated the second-to-last week of term as a revision week. Professor Snape had them brew a Draught of Peace again, and was riddled with anger as usual as Harry, Amelia and Dorea successfully brewed it almost to perfection. Dorea was pleased to see that Neville was gradually getting better; as he managed to score an A, probably his first passing grade in the class. In Ancient Runes, Professor Babbling had them do a quiz; each table was a team, and she gave them scripts to translate each period, and awarded house points to the winning table. Some days she mixed up the teams - especially for the harder scripts to really get them to work together, but it was great fun nonetheless. Fred and George, despite their busy schedule as NEWT students, were still managing to bring out new joke products almost weekly - they started selling Headless Hats, which were freaky at first but very funny. Fred told her they were in the middle of creating a type of bomb; which she was a bit concerned about, but it wasn’t an explosive one - when the person threw it on the ground, a swamp would appear, trapping your opponent and causing them distress and distraction. Dorea thought it would be great in a fight with someone; you could easily trap them and send them reeling. 

Eventually, Harry was also given his Firebolt back (Umbridge had it locked away for safe-keeping), which was brilliant, as he and Ron started going out to the pitch every morning to improve Ron’s Keeper skills - despite there not being Quidditch games until after the holidays. Dorea could tell her god brother was a lot happier now that he had his broom back.

To the delight of everyone, the final week of term rolled around, and it was soon enough the last Hogsmeade weekend before the holidays. Dorea only had a few more people to buy for - mainly Ginny, Daphne and Susan, before her Christmas shopping was done and dusted. Dorea also decided to spend some time with Fred in the quaint little village. Once Filch signed them out, they made their way down the path to the village, seeing some of their friends on the way.

After briefly shopping for their friends, they decided to go to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Upon entering, they froze a bit when they realised that, sitting at the bar having a drink, was Mundungus Fletcher.

“What do we do?” Dorea whispered to Fred frantically. “If he sees us together, you can bet all your money that he’ll mention it to the Order, and they’ll put two and two together…”

“You go find a table, I’ll order us drinks. Is it butterbeer you’re wanting?” Fred asked. Dorea nodded and managed to tiptoe to the back of the room whilst Mundungus had his back turned and found a booth for them. Fred got served within a few minutes, though she shook her head and mouthed “No!” at him when he patted Mundungus on the shoulder and said hello to him. The two of them were talking for what seemed like ages, but eventually Fred came over; though Dorea had to do a mad dive under the table when Dung got up and started following Fred to the table, thinking he was sitting alone. Fred did manage to convince him that Lee and George were arriving soon though, and underneath the tablecloth she saw Dung’s legs waddle back in the direction of the bar. She deemed it safe to resurface. “Why did you do that?” She gritted at him. “If he seen us together it would have been disastrous!”

“He’s not nearly as drunk as I expected him to be,” Fred admitted sheepishly as he placed the drinks down. “He wouldn’t leave me alone! So sorry. Anyway, how have you been coping?”

“I know OWLs are important, but oh my word, we’re all swamped with work.” Dorea replied. Fred chuckled. “Wait until next year when you start doing NEWTs, my dear, they’re ten times worse.”

“You and George only do three each,” Dorea chuckled, “me however, I plan to take the same subjects I’m doing now next year.”

“What, even Muggle Studies?” Fred laughed as he took a sip of his drink. “It’s an easy OWL, so it’s probably a ridiculously easy NEWT too. What can they even ask you at NEWT level - “ _ Explain why Muggle’s hang their washing outside to dry”? _ ” 

Dorea chuckled. “Easy for you to say - you didn’t even know what a lawn mower was until last year.”

“Don’t even get me started on leaf blowers, my dad will probably burst through the door.” Fred laughed. Constantly keeping an eye on Mundungus in case he turned around, they carried on their conversation before ordering lunch. More students started filtering in, ladened with paper bags. 

That evening for dinner, Dorea sat with all her girl friends at Slytherin table, and it was there they exchanged wrapped presents for each other, since break was starting in just under 48 hours. Dorea received gifts from Amelia and Hermione (obviously), Ginny, Hannah, Susan and Megan. Some of the girls had collaborated on presents - Padma and Parvati had given her something labelled from both of them, Daphne and Astoria likewise. Looking over at the boys, they seemed to be doing the same; Harry had to shrink all the presents so they fitted in his bag he had received that many.

Dorea got the fright of her life when, at midnight, she was woken up by the sound of a large screaming sound seemingly coming from elsewhere. She bolted upright in bed, and could hear the other girls stirring too.

“What on earth is that noise?” Lavender said, going towards the door.

“It sounds like one of the boys.” Parvati added, yawning.

It seemed that the screaming sound had woken all of Gryffindor Tower - for people were standing either on the staircase or the landing in their pyjamas, not quite knowing exactly where the sound was emerging from. 

The scream seemed to die down, and with that some quiet resumed. The girls got a huge fright though, for Professor McGonagall flew the door open and came striding in, dressed in her dressing gown. “Miss Potter, Miss Black, come with me please.”

Dorea and Amelia looked to one another. “What’s going on?”

“Come! I will explain everything on the way to Dumbledore’s office.” Their Transfiguration teacher said with a matter of urgency. Glancing back at Hermione, Lav and Parvati, they followed their teacher out of the dorm.

“Well, Professor, what’s going on?” She asked.

“Your brother has had what he insists was a vision, happening right now, of Arthur Weasley being hurt during the course of his work for the Order.” McGonagall said in a hushed tone.

They gasped. Dorea’s heart fell through the floor.  _ Mr Weasley, hurt?! _

“Who on earth would want to hurt Mr Weasley?” Amelia said, sounding frightened. It sounded very serious, whatever had happened.

They all but bundled into the Headmaster’s office, and already there were all the Weasley children, Harry, and a worried looking Sirius. There was an air of tension in the room.

Dorea eyed Fred, and her boyfriend looked both angry and terrified. 

“Will somebody _ please  _ give us some clarification?” George said tersely, “Is our dad seriously hurt?”

“If what Harry says is true, your father has been attacked by a snake inside a room at the Ministry, and is possibly very seriously injured with its venom. I can assure you that St Mungo’s will be there as quickly as they can-”

“-A  _ snake?”  _ Ron spoke up teetering, interrupting Dumbledore. Ron's face was so pale it was a total contrast to his maroon and white pyjamas.

“Alright, how’s a bloody snake gotten into the Ministry?!” Fred voiced, irated. Some of the magical portraits on the wall were going mad, gossiping.

What looked to be an empty portrait beside Dumbledore’s head soon had a person reappear in it. They looked worn out. “Did as you asked, Professor,” the person said, panting, “I showed the Healer’s where the man was. Looked god awful.. Covered in blood..”

“Covered in blood?” Ginny shrieked, sounding very scared for once.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius, who had been silent all this time and comforting the Weasley kids. “Sirius, I feel that we should send them home a few days early.”

“Agreed.” her father nodded.

“But where shall they go - Grimmauld Place or Black Manor?” The Headmaster asked.

“As much as I hate to say it; Grimmauld Place. It’s of far more convenient access to St Mungo’s - only a handful of streets walking distance.” Sirius said.

“That settles it then.” Dumbledore was about to say more, but a flash came from the fireplace. “That is Fawkes’ warning. Some of Fudge’s old cronies have been alerted and are starting to arrive at the Ministry. I have sent Elphias to deal with them, so they don’t start asking questions. Have you all used a Portkey before?” At their nodding, he placed a giant rusted iron key on the table. “This will transport you back to Number 12. Your luggage will arrive by tomorrow, including your pets. I’ll tell all your friends you had to leave on grounds of family business. Off you go now. I’ll have Phineas Nigellus go between the portraits to deliver any news.”

After the count of three, the Portkey was activated, and they found themselves being whizzed around before soon landing in the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, where Dorea hadn’t been since before school started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEO AND AMELIA ARE DATING and OMG I LOVE THEM.  
> I know you're all probably thinking, "How is Theo going to spend Christmas with Harry, Dorea, Amelia and Sirius if they leave early without him?" but don't worry, he'll soon join them, especially when he recieves news regarding his mum and dad...


	21. St Mungo's Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Theo settles into life at Black Manor more, and Dumbledore arranges a one-way ticket out for Ophelia.
> 
> Faceclaim for Bethesda Nott: Eileen Atkins (specifically when she was in The Crown)

When they had all landed in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, the Weasley kids started pacing.

“We have to go to St Mungo’s, now!” Ginny proclaimed, before she realised they were all still in pyjamas.

“Yeah, Sirius, can we borrow some cloaks?” George asked.

“Woah, now,” Sirius put his hands up, “we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Why not?” Fred demanded. “Our dad might be dying and yet we’re stood here?”

“It will look awfully fishy if we all go tearing off to St Mungo’s before even your own mother finds out!” Sirius answered, in something similar to his teacher's tone.

“So?” George scoffed. 

“We do not want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening on the other side of the country!” Sirius said, sighing tiredly.

They carried on bickering, all the while Harry was standing feeling very dizzy. He had witnessed Mr Weasley get grievously injured… He had been the snake..

_ No,  _ his mind screamed at him,  _ you haven’t got fangs. You were sleeping in bed, nowhere near London.. _

Yet why had he seen it? He had slithered down that damned corridor that he kept dreaming of, and entered it.. Came upon Mr Weasley.. And bit him. All from the snake’s perspective. 

Harry suddenly felt very sick. 

Eventually, Ginny, Fred and George stopped arguing with Sirius, and settled down into seats around the table. Sirius got Butterbeer out the pantry for them all, though barely anybody did more than sip. They stayed like that for hours. Harry did not know if he had ever sat awake through a longer night than this one. Dorea and Amelia slipped in and out of consciousness. Ron had his head on the table the whole time, and no one knew if he was sleeping or not. Fred fell asleep for short periods but kept waking up with a start. George and Ginny were curled up in their chairs, staring into the fire.

At ten past five, Mrs Weasley swung open the door, looking very tired. “Arthur’s going to be alright. We can go and see him later. Bill’s currently with him - Charlie will be coming back from Romania as soon as possible.”

Everyone jumped up, relieved. The twins and Ginny went to hug their mum, whilst Ron laughed shakilly. Sirius insisted he make them all breakfast (since Kreacher was nowhere to be found), and Harry would have gone to help him if he still didn’t feel so lightheaded. After eating, they were all eager to get going to St Mungo’s, but Sirius insisted they get at least an hour or two’s sleep in them, considering they’d stayed up half the night. Harry was all too happy to oblige; his eyelids were drooping even as he walked up the stairs to where the boys bedroom was. Just as he was about to fall asleep, a thought came to him; what if he became the snake again? What if the snake was still at the Ministry, lurking in the shadows, and ready to hurt someone else? Dumbledore had said that Elphias Doge was there - what if Harry saw the snake bite the poor man? Doge was quite a bit older than Mr Weasley - what if he succumbed to the snake venom and died?

He woke up at eleven, and only Ron was still in the room. Their trunks had arrived from Hogwarts, and with them Hedwig and Pigwidgeon. Ron was getting changed into a hoodie and some jeans. Downstairs, the rest of the Weasley’s, along with Amelia and Dorea, were gobbling down lunch, eager to get going to the hospital. Harry really hoped that today he wouldn’t have to recite his vision again, but knew that was unlikely. Mad-Eye and Tonks came along at lunch to escort them to St Mungo’s. Sirius came along with them too, and as they walked through the streets of London, he purposefully hung back with Harry. “Are you feeling alright?”

Harry nodded. “It was a long night.” He tried to laugh it off.

His godfather eyed him. “I hope you do not blame yourself for it, Harry. Truly, if you didn’t see it, Arthur would be long dead by now, and we would be grieving instead of going to visit him.”

He did see the sense in that, but still felt terrible that he had observed the event nonetheless. Maybe it was just Harry’s paranoia, but he couldn’t help but feel that Fred and George kept eying him with looks that partly resembled blame. 

The entrance to St Mungo’s was very odd - on the outside it looked like a run-down department store, but when Tonks started talking to a mannequin in the window he thought he was definitely seeing things. Moody was soon shoving him through, and when he entered it was a completely different scene - a bright-walled, bustling reception space. There were about five rows of chairs and a small refreshment area.

Mrs Weasley went up to the Enquiries desk, and waited a few minutes to ask the receptionist presumably where Mr Weasley had been moved to. As soon as she had her answer, she beckoned them all to follow.

They had to climb a set of stairs to bring them up onto the second floor, and she directed them towards the Dai Llewellyn Ward. They stopped at a room with only three patients, but occupying the bed furthest from the door was Mr Weasley. Harry was pleased that he was awake and reading the  _ Daily Prophet,  _ with a half-filled plastic cup of water and a half-eaten sandwich on his tray table.

Tonks and Mad-Eye elected to stay outside, as they thought he wouldn’t want too many visitors. Harry almost stayed with them until Amelia dragged him in. “Hello!” Mr Weasley chirped at them, his face breaking out into a smile at seeing most of his kids.

“How are you, my dear?” Mrs Weasley kissed her husband’s cheek.

“I feel absolutely fine,” Mr Weasley said brightly, conjuring more chairs for them. “Have to take a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour on the dot to stem the bleeding, but other than that I’m golden.”

He went on about some man who had been found responsible regarding the regurgitating toilets in the summer, but Fred and George kept pressing for their father to say what happened. They were shut down when Mrs Weasley snapped at them after George deduced, “You were guarding the weapon You-Know-Who wants, weren’t you?”

They didn’t stay for much longer, and soon enough they were ushered out so that Tonks and Mad-Eye could visit Mr Weasley. Their visit was concluded then, as the Healers had to change his bandages, which meant there was quite a lot of blood involved due to the freshness of the wound. Harry was reminded of the Healing classes starting up in the New Year, and realised they would probably be dealing with blood loss during it - the thought made him a bit squeamish, but he stomached it.

When they got back to Grimmauld Place, Harry, for the first time ever, didn’t want to be around the Weasley’s. He felt like an intruder on their family time, and wanted nothing more but to be back at Black Manor in his own bedroom. After all, it was miraculous that they didn’t at least hold some of the blame on him. All throughout the walk home, Fred and George kept glancing back at him from time to time and whispering. Dorea assured him they weren’t saying anything bad, but his mind told him otherwise. He spent the rest of the afternoon in Walburga Black’s bedroom with only Buckbeak for company.  _ At least he can’t judge me,  _ he thought,  _ he’s a creature, with no comprehension of the situation I’m in. He doesn’t think me a monster.  _ Buckbeak soon proved to be slightly boring company as he got tired of eating rat carcasses and elected to curl up with his head in his wing and sleep.

He was almost drifting off when he heard the door creak open, and Ginny appeared. “So this is where they keep him. Oh, hi Harry.”

“Hi.” He said with barely any effort, rubbing his eyes.

“None of us blame you, you know.” She said resolutely.

“Then why do you all keep looking at me as if I’m going to transform into a snake at any moment? Do you expect to see Voldemort’s face staring out when you look at me or what?” He said, not quite shouting, but snapping.

“Oi, don’t snap at me, Harry James Potter!” Ginny countered moodily. Then she calmed. “I know that you probably feel awful, having to observe dad getting attacked and feel like it was you yourself that did it, but the fact is this: dad wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for you. We’d be planning his funeral right about now if you hadn’t been sent that vision, instead of going to merrily visit him in hospital.” 

Though it sounded similar to what Sirius told him earlier, Harry sighed and realised it was all true. He looked up at the youngest Weasley. “Thanks for that.”

“It’s no bother.” Ginny replied, then went to sit against the wall next to him. “It’s kind of a bummer that we’re not at school right now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I was planning to go to Astoria’s house over the holidays - just for a day, but we hadn’t got a date organised.” Ginny said.

Harry looked at her. “I didn’t realise you two had bonded that well.”

“She’s great, and so is Daph, but me and Astoria are quite similar. We were also due to make plans with Tulip, Penny, Badeea, Liz... all them, but obviously I can’t now because there’s not really a way to contact them and I can’t exactly tell them I’m here, at Grimmauld Place.”

He understood. “Don’t say this to anyone else; but Theo Nott is supposed to be staying with me, Amelia, Dorea and Sirius at Black Manor.”

He noticed Ginny let out the smallest smirk. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, his father is a total arse. He’s prohibited Theo from ever returning to his home all because he’s made friends with people that aren’t pure-bloods and Death Eaters in training.”

Ginny whistled. “Damn. It’s nice of you to take him in though.”

They carried on speaking, until a noise came from downstairs. They went to investigate, and there Theo stood in the kitchen, being welcomed.

Harry hugged his friend. “Did you think we’d abandoned you?” He grinned.

“Sort of, but then Sirius came to collect me not even ten minutes ago. He says we’ll pop over to where you actually live tonight to get settled in.” Theo answered. The boy looked around. “This room seems huge - is that a pantry?”

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Ron muttered. They gave Theo a run-down of Sirius’s old house, and practically drilled it into him not to speak too loudly in the front hallway. He was flabbergasted at the elf heads on the wall. When Kreacher emerged from nowhere, he even let out a yelp, but then eyed the elf with humour. “Not even my grandad’s house elf is that old.”

When it was near dinner time, Sirius said they’d get out of the Weasley’s hair for a while and head back to Black Manor. He added Theo to the house’s wards, which the boy flinched at. 

When Sirius Apparated them to the house, Theo’s mouth hung open. “My parents house is not even a quarter the size of this place!”

Theo chose a room on the same level as Harry’s, but quite a bit further down the hall. Sirius was soon decking it out magically in wall colours and furniture, which Theo insisted he didn’t need much of. When they eventually settled down for dinner, Theo wasn’t overly keen on eating more than he was given - but after much encouragement he was soon helping himself to more spoonfuls of steak pie.

When the kids were busy washing up, Sirius took Theo aside into one of the study’s. After all, he only knew the boy due to being his teacher, and he didn’t want Nott thinking he was a burden. The handsome lad was wide-eyed, probably wondering what he wanted to speak to him about. “I want you to be welcome here, Theodore.” Sirius said truthfully.

“Oh, I am, Sir, very much.” Was the boy's quick response.

“Please, call me Sirius. I’m only ‘sir’ or ‘professor’ when we’re at school.” He smiled at him. “I know the first few days you’ll probably feel homesick - after all, practically all your things are back at your own house, but if you ever need anything at all, I will provide it for you.”

Theo blinked. “O-oh, thanks Sir - sorry, Sirius.” The boy said, before quickly correcting himself. Sirius Black, without even asking, recognised that this boy had been raised in a pure-blood fashion; always saying ‘Sir’ and probably being afraid to ask for more of what he’d been given. His father had put him through the exact same lessons as a boy - he shuddered, thinking of the ‘aristocratic’ training. He wondered if the boy was fluent in Latin, or perhaps something like Ancient Greek, like other pureblood ponces.

“You’ll also be far more laid back in this house, for rules are pretty relaxed. Light’s out is usually at ten, and the Potions Lab is always available to use as it's forever stocked up.“ Theo nodded vigorously. “There is a room especially dedicated to duelling on the top floor, which can be used so long as you tell someone you’re in there. The library on the top floor is also unlimited use; just make sure books are put back where you find them, etcetera.. Oh, and there’s plenty of quidditch equipment if you ever fancy a fly-around.” 

“Wow,” Theo lowly whistled, “so many luxuries.. My father could never.”

Sirius barked laughter. “My dad was somewhat the same.”

The boy looked at him. “I’m so glad to get away from him. Me and my mum were always walking on eggshells around him - and he’s mostly always drunk. Happiness or laughter he didn’t trust.”

Sirius balked. “Really?”

“Yeah. Miserable codger.” Theo said, suddenly feeling awkward telling his teacher about this.

“I gather your mother is totally different?”

“Oh, totally. She’s an angel.” Theo said, glad to speak of the best woman in his life. “T-there’s something else though.”

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” Sirius added quickly, as he kind of knew where this was going.

“My father is abusive towards her. Me as well, but with me at Hogwarts.. He takes every single little brunt of anger out on her. At times I wish I could go home on weekends to protect her more, to distract father… I-it’s awful, and with me not being able to be there for her, I… I’m scared.” The boy was getting teary.

Sirius placed a hand on the lad's shoulder. He felt awful for his new ward; not only for his home life, but for his mental state. If his father had been like this all his life, then there was no doubt he’d have some trauma accumulated from over the years, or perhaps even worse, PTSD… He wondered if St Mungo’s had a psychology department, as it would be good to get Theo some help and have his potential issues monitored.

“Your mother sounds like one tough woman,” Sirius said, “and you love her dearly. I just wish there was a way to help her, to get her out.”

“So do I,” Theo said, furiously rubbing his face. “Dad doesn’t even let her get a job. She can’t even go and visit her own sister and mother, or any other friends, it's terrible and controlling. He even has all the control of my vault at Gringotts.”

Sirius had heard enough. He had an idea to talk to Dumbledore about this - perhaps he could get her out of there, and find her a place to stay? Sirius would have welcomed her here too; Theo and his mum clearly thrived together and had a lovely relationship, they just needed Nott Sr out of the equation to live a lot more happier. He was now determined to be something of a father figure to the lad in front of him.

“Right, Ophelia, come here.” Came from Rohan out in the hall.

Ophelia stood gingerly and briskly walked to where her husband was. He wasn’t as drunk today, as he was able to stand on his own, but that only made him more aware. “I have written what I want to be contested on this sheet of paper. My brother is not deserving of the other two and a half thousand Galleons he’s getting off the wench. I want every single Knut of the five thousand Galleon dividends or hell will be raised.”

She nodded emphatically. “They might have to get a wizarding solicitor in…”

“Yes, and?” Rohan snarled. “It is perfectly legal to contest a bloody will, you dimwit.”

She blinked. “Anything else?”

“I want my name added to the inheritors of her house. I’ll kill them if I have to - I feel like it can be a good hide-out for the Death Eaters if we ever need it.” Rohan said.

_ We?  _ Ophelia thought.  _ Speak for yourself, Rohan, I’m not involved with your terrorist organisation one bit.  _ “Okay.”

“ _ Okay.”  _ Rohan mimicked her in mock. “Get going, then.”

Stepping out the house and shutting the door behind her, she almost squealed with excitement as she went to the Apparition point in the woods surrounding their house. Little did Rohan know, in her handbag she also had with her their marriage certificate, documents that proved their address, and proof of her name change - which were documents she had to bring in order to proceed with the divorce and apply for it.

She still couldn’t believe she was actually doing this.

When she arrived at Gringotts, the same goblin from the other day smiled knowingly and waved her through to his office. She smiled brightly as they sat down. “Shall we go over the will first, and then talk about your divorce, Mrs Nott?”

“Oh, yes, - save the best till last and all that.” She answered.

The goblin smiled. “Has your husband contested any of the wills contents?”

“Yes,” Ophelia pulled the envelope out, which also contained the bit of paper he used to write what he wanted amended. The goblin took it and skimmed over it. “He can contest it - but a solicitor needs to be on hand to provide advice. Luckily, we have one here at the bank to save contacting the Ministry.” The goblin then rang a bell.

The door opened, and the face of a younger, handsome wizard popped around the door. He had ginger hair and smart looking robes. “Glodsork, you called?”

“Weasley, summon Fawley here please, if you will.” Glodsork said.

“Sure thing. Be back in a jiffy.” The young man disappeared. A minute or so later, the man who she assumed was Fawley appeared, carrying a briefcase.

“Good morning, madam,” he shook her hand and took a seat alongside her. 

Glodsork explained the will and showed the amendments Rohan wanted to make. “Is Mr Nott estranged from his brother, Madam?” The solicitor asked her.

“Yes. I have no clue what he even looks like.” She answered, wondering what the man who was her brother-in-law, and Theo’s uncle, was like, and why on earth he’d angered Rohan so much to sever contact.

“Do you have the Nott family tree to hand?” Fawley asked the goblin.

“I do. There will still be a record of him.” Glodsork fumbled through a few folders, before eventually retrieving it. “Your husband’s brother is called Proteus Nott. He is married to a muggle woman - first name Rosaline, and they live on the Isle of Man.”

_ Proteus.  _ She would remember his name. She wondered if perhaps the couple had a child - if the child was magical, it would possibly be attending Hogwarts right now, and Theo would have a cousin he never knew about… A thought came to her then. “Will he have to come and contest it as well? After all, it’s supposed to be his money…”

“That could be possible,” Fawley said, “assuming that he was notified of Irma’s death and that he was a recipient of her will, if he doesn’t respond to that, then we can all but assume he doesn’t really care about whether or not he gets the money.”

They talked about the will some more, and Fawley said that Rohan’s name could definitely be added to what was basically a line of succession to Irma’s old house. However, he was about eleventh in line to inherit it.  _ He won’t be happy about that,  _ she knew,  _ but he can’t complain, as he’s in line to receive it. _

Ophelia felt like a rebellious teenager when they got around to discussing the divorce. She presented all her documents, and they started to go through filling out a blank application form. Her case was quite special, as it was being done behind her spouse’s back, but Fawley assured her that so long as she had valid reasons it could still go through; and boy, she had plenty of reasons. She got a bit worried when it came to the custody section; she, of course, wanted 100% custody of Theo and for her son to never see Rohan again for fear of what he’d do to him. Fawley, though a solicitor, who was supposed to be balanced and neutral, assured her that he was on her side. He gave her a cup of tea mixed with Calming Draught to ease her worries. On clauses of abuse, a witch or wizard could legally claim full custody of their child if their spouse was, basically, an abusive shit, so the law was on her side again. Gradually, she felt weight being lifted off her shoulders.

She had never been happier when, after an hour, Fawley said, “Mrs Nott, please sign your signature here, here, and here, with this quill please.”

Though the quill was a Blood Quill, she didn’t even care when the writing started to carve into the back of her hand. The only barrier between her and her freedom of Rohan was for the application to be sent off and reviewed.

“You’re telling me now that these things can take months?” She exclaimed, when Fawley told her.

“Unfortunately, a committee has to meet and discuss applications in order to come to an outcome, but I could perhaps fast-track yours if you wish?” The solicitor said.

Heart racing, she possessed herself to accept, and shook his hand. Glodsork gave her a reassuring smile as the application was slid into an envelope to be sent off.

She breathed. “I really just did that.”

Fawley and the goblin looked proud. “I’m sure the committee will see your side, and let the divorce go through. I really hope they do, Mrs Nott, you deserve happiness.”

She left Gringotts almost in happy tears. However, she quickly held it back as she Apparated back to the house.

“What took you so bloody long?!” Rohan screamed at her as she came back.

She flinched, and decided to lie. “T-the solicitor had to come from the Ministry.”

He was at the table, with three bottles of Firewhisky in front of him. He could barely stand, and sounded a bit slurred. “Well, what was the damn outcome?”

“You will be getting the five thousand Galleon dividends.” She said, and for once she saw her husband smile, though it was with mirth. “You are in line to inherit your great-aunt's house, however there’s quite a few other family members ahead of you to get it.”

His face darkened. “Get out of my sight. In fact, you better get cooking - my mother is coming for dinner.”

She wasn’t thrilled by that prospect at all - Rohan’s mother was the most conservative, old-fashioned bigot she knew. “What shall I make?”

“She’ll be wanting beef stew. Now hurry up and get making it.” He waved her off gruffly.

Bethesda Nott arrived at their house dressed in all-black, and had a walking stick to help her move around. Rohan’s father had died years ago - though his parents didn’t actually like each other most of the time. She had a god-awful expression on her face whenever she set eyes on Ophelia.

“Mother in-law, how have you been?” She asked politely, putting on a happy tone.

The woman eyed her. “Fine, if you must ask. You look appalling, have you been sleeping at all?” Bethesda asked, in faux concern.

Ophelia’s smile thinned at that. Rohan was holding back a laugh which turned into a belch instead. “Well, woman, when’s dinner ready? We’re starving!” Her husband demanded.

“It’s simmering for five more minutes, but then it’ll be ready.” She said, her back turned to them as she stirred their supper in the pot.

Rohan got glasses out and retrieved a bottle of wine from the cupboard. He poured drinks for himself and his mother. Bethesda pulled out her pipe and started lighting it.

She served their supper and sat down to eat. She sat a few seats down from them and ate tentatively. “How is my grandson?” the old bat asked.

Rohan tensed. “Theodore is never to set foot in this house again, mother.”

“Oh, really?” Bethesda said, not looking surprised or shocked in the slightest.

“He has made friends with half-bloods and muggleborns!” Rohan said steely, “and he has befriended none other than the Potter’s!”

“Oh dear,” Bethesda tutted, “not that surprising though - I’ve always said that Theodore was a bit, erm, timid and meek. I’m sure the Dark Lord won’t be too concerned; he couldn’t have contributed anything worthy to the cause anyways.”

Ophelia gripped her fork so tight she thought it was bound to break. Theo was her son, her baby boy, and yet the one thing they were concerned about was the fact he was no longer able to be indoctrinated as a Death Eater - her mother in-law didn’t even care for his well being in all of this!

“He was bound to turn out useless and liberal anyways, with  _ her _ being his mother; you won’t believe how much she mollycoddles that boy, mumma, it’s shocking.” Rohan sneered, and was looking right at her.

“Hmm,” Bethesda barely even glanced at her, “yes, I believe he could have done with a more stricter motherly figure in his life. I myself was raised by a nanny, you know, and it didn’t do me any harm.”

_ The absolute gall of them to be sitting there saying that about me,  _ she thought, glaring down at her bowl, forcing herself to keep eating.

“He also could have done with attending Durmstrang,” Rohan said, gulping, “Igor would have made sure he was toughened up and ready to serve the Dark Lord the second he stepped foot at the Institute. Yes, he would have, it would have fared him far better. But  _ someone _ ,” he rolled his eyes in Ophelia’s direction, “insisted he be closer to home. I’m sure you know, mummy, about Hogwarts' approach to dark magic? They bloody repress it, and detest its use! They teach you how to defend  _ against _ it!” Rohan rambled to his mother like a gossiping hen. Whilst Bethesda had attended Hogwarts, her parents transferred her to Durmstrang (mostly due to their Death Eater ideologies) in her fourth year, but in the women's final year she spent a term at  Koldovstoretz in Russia. She still sounded English though.

“Oh yes, Rohan, I’m very much aware. It’s still disgraceful they admit muggleborn children to Hogwarts - they steal places of much more worthy magical children who can trace their family names back centuries!” She took a swig from her pipe. “None of those runts were running around Durmstrang, I can tell you that, and we all excelled because of it.”

Even though Ophelia had been a Slytherin at school, she was nowhere near the opinion of her husband and mother-in-law. She felt an anger bubble in her when she heard them proclaim that muggleborn kids ‘steal’ places over other children, for that wasn’t the case at all.

The rest of the meal, she stayed quiet as they talked about Voldemort. She pretended not to listen as they talked about the next meeting the Dark Lord was planning. Apparently the wizard was angry that something hadn’t gone to plan, and was positively furious about it. 

“Oh, did you hear? Arthur Weasley was attacked.” Bethesda said. Ophelia perked up at that - she was a few years below the man at school.

“Really?” Rohan raised his brows. The mother and son had long forgotten her presence.

“He’s in St Mungo’s, but heres the queer thing - they had to extract  _ snake venom _ from him.”

Rohan looked up. “A snake, did you say a snake, mummy?”

She nodded. “I did. And who do we both know that has a snake?”

Rohan was thinking. After a few moments, it clicked. “Our Lord?”

“Correct. Nagini must’ve been sent to get him away from something.” Bethesda smoked some more.

“I must ask Lucius - none of us were told about that.” Rohan said.

After another half hour, Bethesda had to leave. Rohan helped his mother out of her chair and got her coat on. He then snapped his fingers at her like she was a servant. “Show mother to the door.”

She got up and walked beside her spiteful mother in-law. She had to resist not to mouth off at her as they walked. When Rohan wasn’t around, the woman was a lot crueller to her. Bethesda turned to her. “Your son is making a grave mistake, allying with Potter.”

“Oh really?” Ophelia let out.

“He has brought shame to the House of Nott, the name of my fathers and their forefathers,” she said as she teetered through to the front door. “Oh, but you probably encouraged him.” She jabbed a finger at her.

“Pardon?” Ophelia countered. 

“You heard me!” the crone snapped. “I should have never let you marry my son. You’re already a failure to me - you only gave him one child, and that child has gone against his father's wishes!”

“I was told about your other son today at the bank - Proteus.” She stood up for herself.

The woman whipped around. “Don’t utter his name.”

“You hate him because he married a woman of his own choosing?” Ophelia muttered, and scoffed, “No wonder he left.”

Bethesda Nott made a noise of contempt before practically power walking away from the house and to the Apparition point. Ophelia felt triumphant that she managed to annoy the god awful woman. However, in the front hall, Rohan had heard the whole exchange. She froze.

“You nasty, ungrateful, conniving, bitch!” Her husband strode forward to grab her. 

On Christmas Day, the habitants of Black Manor woke up very excited and early. Amelia entered the room and immediately started unwrapping her presents. Harry was already in there. “Great haul this year!” He said over the top of his present pile.

Amelia had received: from Lisa, some muggle Classic literature books (Pride & Prejudice, and Sons & Lovers to name a few), Daphne and Astoria had both got her a Golden Snitch necklace, which was very cute. Hannah had got her a book called “Little Women” which she thought Amelia would like, and Susan had given her a signed photograph of Ethan Parker; Skye Parkin’s father, Quidditch ace for Wigtown Wanderers.

Dorea came down with Sirius, and eventually Theo came down too; for he had received presents too. Anthony Goldstein, despite the fact he didn’t celebrate Christmas due to being Jewish, had given him a book regarding Charms. Harry had got him a new cauldron and a set of scales, whilst from Blaise he received a voucher for the Three Broomsticks and a Quidditch jersey.

After they opened their presents, Sirius said they were going to Floo over to Grimmauld Place, as the Weasley’s were going to visit Arthur again. Theo was unsure about if he should go or not, but they encouraged him to, and he soon followed.

“Thanks for the gifts!” Ginny hugged them in welcome when they came through. Oddly, Hermione was with them; apparently she didn’t fancy going skiing with her parents.

Mrs Weasley looked awfully red-faced when they walked to the front door. “What’s up with your mum?” Amelia asked Fred.

“Percy sent back his Christmas jumper, with no note.” He answered.

Amelia had a sudden urge to wring Percy Weasley’s neck, for the crime of upsetting his own mother. “That’s terrible!”

“She was a right old mess,” Fred nodded, “Lupin had to take over from us, even after we told her that Percy was probably all alone at his home pulling a Christmas cracker by himself.”

St Mungo’s was a bit quieter on Christmas Day, but there were still Healer’s MediWitches and MediWizards milling everywhere. She could understand why - some of these residents were permanent, and needed 24 hours a day care. 

Mr Weasley was lively today, and had already finished his Christmas lunch. He squinted at Theo when he realised the boy's presence. “Who’s this strapping young chap?”

Theo went all aristocratic. “Theodore Nott, Sir,” and held his hand out for the man to shake as he made his way closer to his bedside.

“Nott?” Arthur looked uncertain, before Sirius whispered to him that he wasn’t like his family.

Theo meandered back over to her, and they grinned at each other despite the fact the adults or the boys could be watching them.

“Merry Christmas, angel,” Theo whispered, staring down at her and looking jolly.

“You too, my dear,” she brushed her hand against his, “here’s to many more.”

The atmosphere changed slightly, when Mr Weasley admitted that one of the Trainee Healers had experimented slightly by stitching his wound together, which caused Mrs Weasley to be a bit irate. The kids all decided now would be a perfect time to grab a cup of tea.

They walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, where the tea room and shop was. When they walked passed the fourth floor, however, standing near the door was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart. The man’s memory had been almost wiped since the end of second year. He kept pestering to sign autographs for them, but a Healer soon gently walked him back to his ward.

As they made their way back to the stairs so they could carry out their original mission, they sighted a familiar woman walking down the corridor, with a depressed looking boy behind her - Neville.

“Oi, Neville!” Ron had called out.

Their friend, who had grown in confidence so much since the DA started, flinched as though a bomb had gone off. “It’s us, Neville!”

“Friends of yours, dear?” Augusta Longbottom asked her grandson. Then she recognised them. “Ah yes, the Potter’s, Weasley’s, and Sirius’s daughter.” Amelia noticed her boyfriend elected to hide behind Fred and George - the two tallest out of all of them.

Neville looked very run down, and probably wanted the ground to swallow him up. “Who were you visiting, Neville?” Hermione asked.

“Oh, and Happy Christmas!” Dorea added.

“Thank you, my dear.” Augusta cast a look at her grandchild. “He’s said how much you lot have helped him in his first term back. I’m afraid he’s still not got the talent his father had.” The Longbottom matriarch cast her eyes down the ward, where, at the end, a forlorn and dazed looking man was sitting.

“That’s your  _ dad _ down at the end, Nev?” Ron let out, flabbergasted.

Her twin brother looked like he wanted Ron to shut up. “What’s this?” Augusta asked sharply, “Haven’t you told your friends about your parents, Neville?”

Neville, who the whole time was staring down at his feet, sighed, and eventually shook his head. “Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of! You should be proud, Neville, proud to have them as your mother and father! They didn’t give their health and sanity for their only child to be ashamed of them!”

By this point, some Healer’s and visitors were casting their eyes in their direction. Amelia felt awful for Neville, being berated in public. “I’m not ashamed,” Neville eventually said.

Augusta craned her head towards them. “My son and daughter in-law were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who’s followers.”

They gasped horrendously at that; Neville winced. Harry was looking down at his hands. 

“They were Auror’s, you know, and very well respected people.” Mrs Longbottom continued, “Incredibly gifted and talented. Put others before themselves- yes, Alice dear, what is it?”

A woman appeared beside Hermione. Though she looked like she was in her early thirties, this Alice woman was walking and looking about aimlessly, as if she seemed to be older. In her hands was a wrapping paper dedicated to Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum. She teetered towards Neville and outstretched her hand containing the wrapper. “Neville, take it, whatever it is.” Augusta said.

“Thanks, Mum.” Neville said faintly.

Alice turned around and walked back up the ward, humming. She didn’t seem overly capable of speech - but perhaps Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured that out of her too.

“We’d better get going,” sighed Mrs Longbottom, “Very nice to see you all. Neville, put that bit of paper in the bin, she must’ve given you enough of them to wallpaper your bedroom.”

When they left, the door to the ward closed behind them.

“I had no idea…” Hermione looked like she was close to tears.

“Nor did I.” Ron looked very guilty.

“Dumbledore told me, but promised me not to tell anyone. It’s what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on them for such a long period of time it wiped their memory clean.” Harry said hoarsely.

Frank Longbottom had gotten up from his bed, and his eyes were glued to them as he tottered towards them. “Oh, what should we do?” Dorea whispered, as they were stood in something akin to a circular formation.

“Poor man,” George whispered, “he must think we’ve come to see him.”

“Well, we must look like we’re gawking at him as if he’s some animal at a zoo! Of course he’s going to come over.” Ginny said, though she made no attempt to move.

A Healer was watching Neville’s dad walk towards them carefully, as if he was soon to endanger himself. He kept one hand on the wall as he walked up the corridor. Theo looked at her - he looked a bit faint.

The man was now within two feet of them. He was dressed in some loose fitting sweatpants and a dated jumper with a cardigan over the top. Amelia couldn’t help but think it looked familiar.. But then it clicked; it was the same one he was wearing in the original Order of the Phoenix photograph.

The man stared quite extensively at Harry, and made to lift his hand. Frank Longbottom’s mouth hung open, as if he was trying to say something, though no noise was coming out. He was also trying to smile, but found that quite difficult in itself. 

The door behind them opened, and when they turned it was Sirius and Remus - clearly, they’d been gone for longer than they thought, and had come to retrieve them, even though they hadn’t even gotten to the tea room yet.

They seemed frozen in place when they realised that their old friend was standing right there with them. When Amelia looked back at Frank, she saw something in the man's eyes… perhaps he recognised them? 

“Kids, come along now, let’s get back and get dinner prepared…” Sirius ushered them, but he and Remus were even more shocked when Alice reappeared, though she didn’t even look at them; they knew it was her.

They left the ward, but as they were leaving, Amelia hung back. Frank Longbottom looked at her as she gently went to hold his hand in hers. She only held it for a few seconds, but she whispered to him, “You would be so proud of your son.”

Though Frank stared blankly at her, he definitely heard her. Before she rushed to join the others, she said one last thing to him - “We’ll make you and Alice proud.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Right, I have no clue how divorces actually work in our world haha so sorry if I got loads of things wrong. I based it off divorce procedures for my country.  
> I quite liked the little bonding talk Sirius and Theo have, I felt it would probably be realistic since Sirius kind of went through a similar experience with his own family?  
> I added in the gang's little exchange with Frank and Alice as I thought it was rather sweet and something of a powerful moment. Also, I think I hate Bethesda as much as I hate Rohan...


	22. Unexpected News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The return to school looms, and Rohan gets a shock when he gets out of hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is a bit chaotic to say the least, and I kind of don’t like it as much (I feel like it’s a bit rushed yikes) but don’t worry we’ll be back at Hogwarts soon. It’s also a bit shorter than the other ones.
> 
> Faceclaim for Proteus Nott: John Hopkins

Boxing Day was a very relaxed affair. The residents of Black Manor were all occupied with their own things; Sirius was marking essays from his Advanced and NEWT level students, Harry was making Arithmancy notes, Dorea was reading up on wandlore, and Amelia was initially reading, but decided to practise at her wandless abilities - she had barely had time to even read up on it at Hogwarts.

She was working her way through the Hogwarts curriculum wandlessly - starting off with Charms. But she soon got frustrated; even the first year spells weren’t working well. In a huff, she marched up to the library and tried to see if there were any beginner books regarding how to use wandless magic.

She was distracted when she heard the library door creak open. Looking up, it was her darling Theodore. They grinned widely at one another. “Hello, my lovely,” Theo wandered over to where she was sitting, and kissed her head.

“Where were you?” She asked.

“Spending time in my nice new bedroom,” he answered, looking down at the book she was reading. “Woah, babe, you can do wandless magic?”

“Well, yeah,” she said, “I was duelling Sirius in the duelling chambers before we went back to school, and I accidentally performed wandless magic. I’ve been reading up on it, but it takes a lot to do… Even first year Charms are tough for me to perform. It makes me think it was only a one-time thing, but I really want to learn it…”

Theo patted her shoulder. “It’ll come to you eventually, dear. It’s naturally quite hard to do and takes loads of practise, but I’m sure you’ll master it soon.”

The two of them sat and spent time together. They felt pretty safe up in the library, as the floor outside in the corridor was marble - they would certainly hear anyone approaching. The two of them spent as much time talking as they did goofing around, and even snuck in a few kisses. When they ran out of things to talk about, it was practically lunch time, so they decided to go down to the kitchen together.

When they entered the kitchen, Harry and Dorea were at the table, hunched over a newspaper. Judging by the black and white moving photographs, it could only be the _Daily Prophet._ It seemed very odd for them to be reading it. Sirius, it turned out, was in the living room, but currently sat with his head in the fireplace; conducting a Floo call.

“What are you reading?” Amelia asked them, moving towards the kettle.

Harry looked up. “Theo, there’s something in this paper… it's about your parents.”

Theo balked. “What?”

Harry pushed the paper across the table, and Theo was immediately reaching to have it in his own hands. Amelia glanced at Dorea, who had a knowing look on her face. Amelia was distracted when her boyfriend gasped, and dropped the paper back on to the table as if it had caused him a knee-jerk reaction.

“What is it?” She made her way over.

Theo could hardly speak. Amelia soon discovered why - on the third page of the _Prophet,_ a relatively large headline greeted her: **_“A NOBLE DIVORCE! OPHELIA NOTT DIVORCES PROMINENT HUSBAND ROHAN NOTT”_ **

A deafening silence overcame the spacious kitchen. Amelia read the story over Theo’s shoulder:

“ _The Nott family is an Ancient and Noble House, and their family name has been a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight list (created by a Cantankerous Nott) and Pure Blood Directory for decades. However, you can imagine Wizarding Britain’s shock when it was revealed on Wednesday that Mrs Ophelia Nott, nee Fortesque, 35, after sixteen years of marriage, has decided to divorce her husband, Rohan Nott, 37._

_“My client is well within her rights to divorce her husband on multiple grounds - it is nobody’s business to say otherwise.” Says Ms Nott’s solicitor, Alastor Fawley, “Mrs Nott is a brave woman who has lived a very sad life around her unloving husband, and deserves to live a life of happiness and peace instead of one filled with fear and stress. I can only hope that the Magical Committee for Practising Law come to the same conclusion.”_

_Mr and Mrs Nott have one child together, Theodore Cantankerous Nott, a fifth year Hogwarts student. There is no doubt that the poor lad will undoubtedly be divided of which parent to side with - the Daily Prophet can confirm that Mrs Nott claims full custody of her son._

_Our reader’s correspondence has simply been rife since this story has broken: “If Mr Rohan Nott is proven to be a horrible abusive husband, then I can only wish Mrs Ophelia good luck in the divorce application,” says an anonymous Wizengamot member._

_“Rohan Nott was certainly a horrible type back in his school days, so it doesn’t surprise me a lot that he’s declined this way.” writes Mrs Shafiq._

_Since this divorce has happened without the knowledge of Mr Nott himself, he was not available for comment. However, his mother - Bethesda Alannys Nott, 78, a prominent figure in wizarding Britain society, had plenty to say when she spoke to us: “My daughter-in-law has always been a bit of a fool,” she says, “my son was raised to be respectful, so, I’m sorry, but I cannot understand why she would make something as serious and as damaging as this up, all for attention I’m sure. My poor grandson has been dragged into all of this as well… with his exams months away, I am utterly furious that she has brought negative attention unto the House of Nott.”_

Amelia stopped reading there. She couldn’t believe what she had just read - Theo’s grandmother, it seemed, had no sympathy whatsoever for her son's wife - and she was painting her as the villain! 

Theo was now sitting at the table, looking faint. He had his face in his hands, yet didn’t make a sound. As she patted his back in sympathy, they jumped slightly when they heard Sirius half-shout, “Bullshit, Albus! You know fine well this proves a perfect opportunity to get her out of there!”

Sirius came through barely five minutes later, looking irate. He spotted Theo, and looked unsure whether to speak. “Theo, I’m sure the news is a shock to you-”

“-My mum will be safe now, right?” Theo looked up.

Sirius paused. “I was just Floo calling Dumbledore; I’ve told him that it would be perfect for your mother to just up and leave now, as… well, when your father _does_ find out she did this without his knowledge, I’m sure we can all imagine just what damage he’d inflict on her.”

They all nodded. All five of them shared a look, because they heard the Floo in the living room make a sound that signalled someone coming through. Barely two seconds later, Remus all but bashed the door aside and appeared windswept in the kitchen. 

“Jeez, Moony, what’s the rush? What’s happened?” Sirius went over to him.

“Arthur’s been discharged from St Mungo’s, perfectly fine,” Remus said.

“Then why do you sound so out of breath?”

“Well, when we all went to get him, we were walking down to the reception space and…” Remus looked directly at Theo, then whispered to Sirius. Her godfather’s face turned to shock.

“Right, what’s going on?” Harry asked.

“Theodore, we saw...your father got wheeled past us on a bed. Multiple Healer’s around him, rushing him towards an emergency ward.”

“What?” Theo half-gasped, “What happened to him?”

“I heard one of the Healer’s say it was alcohol abuse.”

Though Theo hated his father, everyone could see that he still was a little bit concerned. “Well, I’ve never known him sober.”

“Wait, is this the ‘perfect opportunity’ for Theo’s mum to escape that you were talking about?” Dorea asked her father.

Sirius grinned. “You’re very bright and observant, dear - yes, it was.”

“And is she going to do it?” Theo straightened up. “She could come here! It’s probably the safest location in all of Britain!”

“Dumbledore seemed to think so too, but knowing him he won’t lift a finger to help her,” Sirius scoffed. Remus shot him a look.

  
  


At St Mungo’s Hospital, Ophelia stood outside the emergency ward, where Rohan had been wheeled into. She didn’t really feel any remorse for him - he was, after all, abusive, and the reason why she lived in fear, but yet she found herself here all the same.

A few MediWitches walked past her in the corridor. She knew fine well they knew who she was - after all, the news of her divorce had leaked to the press, and half the magical community probably knew who she was now. Ophelia felt their stares.

Rohan was transferred to another ward, but was largely unconscious. All she could do was stand at the door of the ward and stare through the window, at her husband asleep in the bed. She had no clue how long she was standing there, but out of the corner of her eye she saw someone making their way towards her.

A woman was within feet of her. She eyed her. “Do you know Rohan?”

“I know of him.” the woman replied. “You must be his wife.”

“Not for much longer,” Ophelia scoffed, “I’m sure you’ve read the paper.”

The woman tilted her head and looked at her for a few moments. “I should have introduced myself, I am Emmilene Vance.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ophelia replied, not quite knowing what to think.

Emmeline was silent, but lowered her voice. “I am here at the behest of Albus Dumbledore. He feels this a perfect opportunity for you to escape your husband's clutches.”

Ophelia’s heart was racing, and emotion was overcoming her. “Are you serious?” Her voice slightly quavered, and her eyes were soon blurred with tears.

“Yes. I am sure you are concerned about your son as well - he is living with a highly trusted associate of Dumbledore’s, and is very much safe. You could soon be with him.” Vance smiled in sympathy.

 _Theo,_ Ophelia thought, _my boy…_ “Let’s do it.” She broke down in happy tears, and Vance hugged her. After years of torment and torture, she really was finally leaving… 

When she had partially dried her face, Emmeline patted her shoulder. “We could Apparate back to your residence so you can pack your stuff up, and then we’ll go to Albus.”

The house, for once, was very quiet. It felt like a calm sereneness with the absence of Rohan screaming and shouting, truly. Standing in their shared bedroom, Ophelia went about packing two trunks - one with all her things, and another with Theo’s things. Vance was waiting down in the hall for her. When she was finally done, the two bedrooms felt completely bare. 

She levitated the two trunks down the stairs, and smiled at her new acquaintance. With one last glance around the Nott Manor house, Ophelia walked through the front door and shut it behind her for the very last time.

Despite himself, Theodore asked Sirius to take him to St Mungo’s the very next day. He didn’t plan on even going into the ward and sitting by his father’s bedside, - he was just going to see what he had become ever since he banished Theo from his own house.

Harry came with them, and respectively kept his distance as Theo looked through the window in the door. Theo didn’t even feel any sort of emotion; the man asleep in the bed had caused so much pain and suffering to his own wife and child, and wasn’t deserving of any sort of sympathy. Yet it felt a little bit sad to see him like that.

The door to the ward down the corridor opened, and Theo didn’t move an inch, thinking it was just Sirius or one of the Healer’s. Yet a man was now standing slightly behind him, looking into the room.

Theo realised he was partly blocking the door to get in. He turned his head sideways. “Oh, sorry, do you need to go in?”

The man shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. I don’t plan on going anywhere near him.”

It was silent for another few moments. Theo still stared ahead of him. “Do you know him?”

“Unfortunately. Never liked him though. It’s a shame to see him like this, despite all that though. He is, after all, my brother.”

Theo’s eyes widened. Had he just heard that right? The man behind him was potentially his uncle?! He whizzed around, wide eyed, and looked at this stranger. The man barely looked at him for three seconds before his eyes did likewise. “Oh my god…”

“A-are you my uncle, sir?” Theo asked, barely believing himself.

The man was silent for a few moments, probably not believing it himself. “I think I am.”

Harry looked between the two of them, very puzzled. “My dad never talked about you.”

“I barely expected him to - he severed contact the second he learned I had married a muggle born. At his own wedding to your mother, he prohibited me from coming.” Theo’s uncle said, “You look like he did when he was younger. Your mother too… I can only hope you have her kind soul.”

“What is your name, uncle?” Theo asked, barely comprehending anything else. 

“Proteus. Your name is Theodore, correct?” At his nephew’s nod, he continued, “Well, it feels strange finally meeting after all these years, but I can only hope this isn’t the first and last time we meet.”

Theo nodded vigorously. “I-I would like to get to know you, uncle.”

“Likewise, boy.” They shook hands. “I can only apologise that this is our first ever encounter. You must be, what, sixteen?”

“Fifteen,” Theo corrected politely, “though I’m sixteen in June.”

“There’s plenty of time for us to make up for. I could give you my address, if you wish to come calling one day?”

“Yes!” Theo agreed a little enthusiastically. 

“Great, I will send it to your father’s house. I presume you have a fireplace connected to the Floo?” Proteus Nott asked, smiling.

Theo’s smile faltered a bit. “I am no longer living at that house.”

“Oh?” His uncle’s brows furrowed. 

“Father banned me from ever returning because I’ve made friends with people that aren’t pure-blood,” he said, “instead I am living with one of my friends, Harry Potter.” He gestured to Harry, sitting on one of the chairs the whole time, looking bamboozled.

“Ah, yes, Harry Potter.” Proteus gestured him forward. “The Boy Who Lived. I’ve heard lots about you and your twin sister. It’s very kind of you to be housing my nephew. May I pop round one of these days to spend time with Theodore?”

Harry tried to smile. “That would be great, but the thing is… I live with my godfather, Sirius Black, in a highly secret location. I’m assuming you’re not a Death Eater like your brother, sir, but it would put you and all of us in danger if the Death Eater’s ever targeted you and forced you to give up the house’s location.”

Proteus Nott seemed to understand. “I see. I can understand your concern, truly. Is your godfather around?”

“He went to the tearoom. We could go and talk to him regarding it?” Harry offered, and the man nodded his head eagerly. Just like that, they were heading up to the fifth floor, where they found Sirius, who had finally managed to buy drinks.

“Hello, you two… Oh, who’s this?” Siris asked, eying Theo’s uncle.

“I am Theodore’s uncle, Mr Black - though we only found that out barely five minutes ago.” Proteus introduced, shaking Sirius’s hand.

“I did not know Rohan had a brother,”

“Me and him severed contact years ago.” Proteus went on to explain about how he and Theodore wanted to go about meeting in order to make up for lost family time, and Sirius listened tentatively. He gave Harry a look when Proteus explained (quietly) that they lived at a secret location, but that was about it. After a few moments of consideration, Sirius spoke up. “I can tell you mean no harm, and are genuine. I think I would be perfectly happy giving you access to our house, so long as you swore to keep it a secret.”

Proteus nodded. “I swear.”

Sirius added Proteus to the house’s security ward, and told him the house was now accessible to him via Floo. He told him the name of the house - Black Manor, - and said he’d be welcome over anytime. Both Theo and his uncle looked excited and relieved - Harry felt happy for his friend, finding he had another family member. His uncle seemed a decent bloke too, though on first impression he had seemed a bit intimidating, looming behind Theo back at the ward, but he seemed very kind, despite being related to Rohan Nott.

Proteus had to get going, as he lived on the Isle of Man and had to get back in order to finish some work, so they slightly reluctantly said farewell to him. Harry noticed that Theo looked forlorn as he watched his new-found uncle walk down the corridors and through the doors, black coat slightly streaming out behind him.

The boys arrived back from St Mungo’s early afternoon. Dorea and Amelia were immediately told of who they had met at the hospital - Theo had an uncle that he had never met before today. “Wow, that sounds really nice for you to meet him after so many years, Theo,” Amelia had said, and Dorea immediately nodded. 

Later that day, the Weasley’s Floo’d over, this time with Mr Weasley in tow, as he’d been given the all-clear to return home the previous day. Mr Weasley looked as good as new - you wouldn’t have thought that barely a week ago, he was fighting for his life after being bitten by a snake. Since it was such a surprisingly nice day outside, they had lunch out in the front garden - though they were sitting on towels since the grass was dewy. The adults seemed to be in a vigorous discussion to one side, whilst the younger ones stayed to another.

“So, Theo, how are you finding the house?” Ginny asked, as she leaned forward to grab a scone.

“It’s bigger and better than anything I could have imagined.” Theo said breathily, and Dorea still noticed he looked up at the house with a look of awe. 

When they had to rush inside due to a sudden shower of rain, the Weasley’s only stayed slightly longer before they had to leave to go back to The Burrow. Dorea decided to spend the next few hours brewing in the Potions Lab - she got to work on a Befuddlement Draught, which, at the end of its brewing time, turned out near perfect. Pleased with herself, she ladled the potion into some vials, corked it, and stored it away. 

When she returned to the kitchen, she was very confused when she heard a “Mum!” come from the living room, and muffled voices. When she went in, she saw her father and god siblings stood looking touched, and Theo was engulfed in a huge hug with a woman. Putting two and two together, Dorea felt herself smile when she realised that the woman was, in fact, Theo’s mother - she had escaped her husband at last.

“When did she arrive?” Dorea asked Harry as she wandered over.

“Just now, practically.” Harry said, “I’m really happy for Theo.”

Dorea nodded, smiling sympathetically. When the mother and son had finished hugging, Dorea got a good look at the woman. Ophelia Nott was pretty slim, and quite tall. She looked quite young for her age, and had nothing but love in her eyes when she looked at her son. 

“Ophelia will be staying with us for the time being,” Sirius explained to them quietly, “Black Manor is the safest place for her to be.”

They all nodded, thinking that Rohan was definitely not going to be happy when he a) read the paper and b) got out of hospital to come home and realise that his wife had left him. It was a great thing that Mrs Nott was no longer around to feel her husband's wrath.

They spent the rest of the afternoon with their newest house mate, and the woman was so kind it warmed Dorea’s heart - how a woman as sweet as Ophelia could be treated so badly by a man who claimed to love her was insane. 

  
  


On the twenty-ninth, Harry spent half the day at Grimmauld Place, as Sirius had an Order meeting, but for some reason asked Harry to come with him whilst Amelia and Dorea stayed behind back at the Manor with Theo and Mrs Nott. During the Order meeting, Harry spent time with the Weasley kids and Hermione, and they discussed their return to school - they were due to go back on the 3rd of January. 

“I think Defence this term is going to be a breeze,” Fred said, “us seventh years are starting our Patronus charms in class; Lupin’s going to get a shock when he realises that half of us have already mastered it.”

Harry grinned. “That’ll save him some time teaching then.”

“There’s those Healing classes as well,” Hermione chirped up, not taking her eyes off her Ancient Runes textbook. “Who here’s all signed their names?”

“Me!” Came from Ginny. Harry added his voice as well. Ron said yes to, though he only planned to go along to the taster session. 

None of them had particularly heard Mrs Weasley coming up the stairs nor knock at the door, for she poked her head around. “Harry, dear, could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you.”

Harry hadn’t realised what she had said, far too engrossed in his game of wizard chess with Ron, but then he turned. “Sorry, Mrs Weasley, what did you say?”

“Professor Snape’s in the kitchen, dear, he’d like a word.”

Harry sat and stared at her. He looked at Ron and the others, who were equally gaping at him. What on earth had he done to warrant Snape wanting a word with him at Grimmauld Place? He started wracking his brains, but couldn’t come to a definite conclusion.

“Come along now, quickly, he says he can’t stay long.” Mrs Weasley urged.

A minute or two later, he walked down into the kitchen and was welcomed with the sight of Remus, Sirius and Snape both sitting at different ends of the table, not looking at each other at all.

“Erm,” Harry announced his presence.

Snape looked around at him, his face its usual monotone. “Sit down, Potter.”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t give orders around here, Severus,” Sirius said loudly, “you’re under my roof, y’see.”

“Sirius,” Remus shot his friend a tired look.

“The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this upcoming term.” Snape said slowly.

Harry looked blankly at the three men. “Study what?”

“Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the human mind against external penetration. An obscure and difficult branch of magic, but very useful.” Snape sneered.

Harry felt dread overcome him. He already had enough on his plate as it was, yet he was being encouraged to take up another subject that no one else was taking? They had all agreed that he hadn’t been possessed by Voldemort, so why was this even necessary?

“Okay, but why?” He asked.

“Because Dumbledore thinks it a good idea,” Snape replied, “you will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anyone else what you are learning. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said instantly, “Who’s going to be giving me these lessons?”

“I am.” Snape raised an eyebrow.

Harry had a horrible feeling that these lessons were going to go very badly indeed. Extracurricular lessons with his least favourite teacher - what on earth had he done to deserve this? Surely Dumbledore was taught the subject of Occlumency, why couldn’t he teach him? He looked at Remus and Sirius for support.

“I assure you I did not beg for the job,” Snape said, getting to his feet, “I expect to see you at six o’clock, Tuesday evenings, my office.”

“Wait a minute,” Sirius said, speaking up.

“I am in a hurry, Black. Be quick.” Snape sneered.

“I’ll get straight to it, then,” Sirius stood up to his full height. “If I hear that you’re taking advantage of these lessons to give Harry a hard time, you will have to answer to me.”

“Sirius, sit down.” Remus barked. Harry didn’t quite know what to do.

“How touching,” Snape said slowly, “Surely you have noticed that Potter is very much like his father?”

“I have.” Sirius proclaimed proudly.

“Well then, you will have figured that he’s so arrogant that valid criticism simply bounces off him.” Snape said slyly.

Sirius’s chair was kicked backwards and toppled, the man now striding with vengeance towards the Potions master, pulling out his wand as he went. Snape drew his own out, and the two were now squared up to one another. 

“Sirius!” Harry tried to draw the man’s attention so that the situation didn’t escalate, but it didn’t seem to work. Remus was quickly up though, and went to drag Sirius back to the table. “I’ve warned you, Snivellus,” his godfather sneered. “Do not slander my best friend and his son. I do not care if Dumbledore thinks you have changed, I know far better-”

“-Then why don’t you tell him, you mutt?” Snape cut him off.

Sirius raised his wand. “No!” Harry exclaimed, quickly moving to join Remus in breaking the two out of their conflict. 

“Are you calling me a coward?” Sirius demanded.

“If the boot fits, Black.” Snape said, his lip curling.

Sirius balked, and Harry pressed himself between the two, whilst Remus tried to drag Sirius back towards the table. Remus managed to succeed, though Sirius was still frustrated and venting. 

“Six o’clock, second Tuesday back, Potter.” Severus said without even looking at him, and vanished out of the door and passed the kitchen's threshold. His godfather was still glaring at the door and growling even long after the Potions master had left.

When he had told the Weasley’s and Hermione about why Snape wanted to see him, Ron looked horrified. “I’d rather have the nightmares and visions if it meant not having lessons with Snape!”

Hermione was of a different opinion. “Dumbledore clearly wants you to stop having these dreams and visions about Voldemort,” she had said, “and I think he’s right - they’re not good or healthy for you to see, Harry.”

Back at Black Manor, the house was quiet, but its residents were content. Theo was doing some Charms homework, Dorea was outside flying, and Amelia had just finished Muggle Studies homework. She went down to the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate, and found Mrs Nott in there.

“Do you fancy a cuppa?” Amelia asked the kind woman, who was her boyfriend’s mum.  
“Oh, please! I’ll have tea, dear.” The woman replied, smiling largely.

Once she had made the drinks, she walked over and sat at the table. Ophelia looked delighted. “My son seems very fond of you, Amelia,” Mrs Nott said, “and I can just tell you’re a lovely girl. How did you become friends with him?”

 _Little do you know I’m dating your son,_ she thought. “Well, it was initially Harry who had become mates with him, but we kind of became friends by default after an incident at the school.” She answered. “Then Harry started up the DA, and we all became very close.”

“This DA sounds very intriguing - if it was done in my school days, though, I can’t even imagine it being that well received at all.” Ophelia smiled over the rim of her steaming cup.

The two of them talked some more, until they heard the Floo in the living room signal that Harry and Sirius were returning from Grimmauld Place. Harry quietly told her about what he and Snape were going to do - Amelia was a bit confused initially, as she had never heard of Occlumency before, but she hoped Harry would master it; it did seem to have its uses. She did have a think to herself, though - these were private lessons he was to be having, and Snape was a nightmare to Harry in front of everyone anyway, what if he took advantage of their private lessons to torment Harry? What if he was just like Umbridge? She made a vow then - she was going to look out for Harry tentatively, more than ever, when they went back to school on the third.


	23. Return to School & The New Minister for Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Valentine's Day looms up quicker than expected, and Harry still comes to terms regarding a certain dating situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so for the bruise-healing spell, I was really basic with the incantation lmao.  
> Translation: Pessima est Plaga Conjure = Conjure bruise

To say Bethesda Nott was furious was an understatement. It seemed that Ophelia had locked herself inside Nott Manor, as she didn’t answer the door at all when she came over knocking, despite Bethesda almost screaming her throat raw. She had tried unlocking the door, but to no avail. She Apparated into St Mungo’s Hospital and strode angrily towards the ward her son was on.

She all but kicked the door open. Rohan, it transpired, was awake, sitting upright and propped up via his pillows. He had just finished what looked like a pot of porridge.

“Mummy!” He slightly rasped at her. She pulled a chair closer to his bedside.

“My dear boy,” she said, but not in a kind tone. 

“Have you visited me previously? I’ve been mostly asleep, so I’m sorry-”

“-Don’t give me that,” she slapped her son's hand, “Just why, Rohan? I have told you countless times the consequences of drinking too much. You almost sent  _ me _ to hospital when I was eventually notified of you drinking yourself half to death, you insipid dunce!” 

“Shhh, mumma, I’m prone to headaches.” Rohan complained, rubbing his temples.

“You could have  _ died _ !” She snapped, not even caring that there was another patient in the ward, they looked to be sleeping anyway, “Your father went this same way and it killed him off!”

“Mother, you’re the one that smokes from that pipe about ten times a day.” Rohan gestured. 

“And as you can see, I am alive and well at my age!” She told him off. “Alcohol, though… That’s a fast-track way to meet an early grave. I have seen my own brother succumb to drink. ‘ _ Oh, it’s just two glasses a day, Beth, it won’t do any harm _ ’, was what he would say every day, - and before you knew it two glasses would become three, then four, then five... and within ten years he was gone.  _ You _ will be joining him if you’re not more careful!” She jabbed at him.

Rohan let out a childish noise. “This is the first time it’s gone too far, though, mumma, it was a one off.”

“I doubt that very much,” Bethesda said, before lowering her voice, “our Lord is holding a meeting on the fifth, do you think you’ll be out by then?”

“I feel better by the day,” Rohan said, “it’s just a case of what the Healer’s say.”

“Bugger the Healer’s,” she said, “they’re far too cautious. I think we should invest in more private healthcare in the future, rather than this public service malarkey.”

Rohan ignored that. “Where is my wife?”

Bethesda clenched her fist angrily. “Have you not read the paper?”

Rohan turned his head. “No, why?”

“Your wife has gone and bloody filed for divorce behind your back!” She half-screeched.

Rohan flinched, then his face went dark. “What?!”

“The  _ Prophet  _ says it's on grounds of abuse, Rohan.” She gritted. “I had to tell them it’s a load of bollocks, but if it is true… If you were younger I’d tan your hide.”

Rohan grimaced. “You must understand, mummy, I-I may have hit Ophelia upside the head a few times, but I was drunk…”

“I raised you to be aristocratic and respectful,” she said, “I never approved of Ophelia, her family for starters, are blood-traitors, but you wouldn’t have anyone else. I wish you chose a more fertile girl. You ought to know - Ophelia isn’t answering the door either, she’s locked herself in your house.”

“That slut,” he snarled, “were there any lights on?”

Come to think of it, Bethesda hadn’t seen any sign of life. “No.”

Rohan turned to fury. “Do you think she’s ran away, mother?”

Bethesda took her son's hand in her own. “It seems likely, my boy.”

“When I see that wench, and our son… They will regret ever leaving me.” Rohan declared, almost ominously.

On the 1st of January, 1996, the New Year was welcomed with the news that Wizarding Britain had a new Minister for Magic - Amelia Bones.

The  _ Daily Prophet _ article read: “ _ Early last evening, Ex-Minister Cornelius Fudge was present at the ceremony to swear in our new Minister for Magic - the ex-Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones. _

A large, moving photograph of Amelia Bones making a speech occupied most of the front page. The woman was dressed very lavishly - a two-piece light grey suit that made her look very professional yet stylish. Amelia Bones’s speech had gone as follows:

“ _ I am honoured that my fellow colleagues and Head’s of the Pure-Blood families voted overwhelmingly for me as Minister for Magic of Great Britain. It still doesn’t seem real, I’ve had to pinch myself numerous times. _

_ I feel that there is a lot of change to come, and things to catch up on, since the previous administration was, let’s just say, lacklustre. I personally believe that Lord Voldemort has returned to a human state, and that he is hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike hate crimes against members of our society. I’m sure there are still some out there that don’t believe he is returned, but they will eat their words soon enough, I am sure. _

_ As your Minister for Magic, I believe there is a lot to get done in a short amount of time. Regarding our young generation: I am sure parents will already know that the previous curriculum regarding Defence Against the Dark Art’s was shambolic. It was reinstated following Dolores Umbridge’s sacking, and students have been working extremely hard to catch up on where they ought to be at by now. I also believe that certain Ministry workers are sworn Death Eaters, and here is my message to them: We will root you all out.” _

The speech went on, but Amelia felt giddy at that last message - people like Lucius Malfoy were sure to be sacked, and that made her extremely happy. She didn’t envy Madam Bones at all - there were tonnes of things needing to be ticked off regarding preparing for Voldemort’s public return. She was sure that Susan was very proud; after all, the Bones family had suffered dearly during the First Wizarding War - Edgar Bones, murdered, along with half of his family. 

On the morning of the third of January, they were up pretty early, as they were going back to Hogwarts by way of the train, whilst the Weasley’s, Hermione and Remus were going via the Knight Bus - which confused them a bit, but put it down to Moody’s probable paranoia. Harry smirked when an image of them rolling and falling all over the bus came into his head; it was by far the most uncomfortable way of wizard travel.

He looked forward to meeting with the DA again, and even though he still had to cover duels with them, he was sure they could take their time with that. With Remus now properly teaching them their OWL Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum spells, it took quite a bit of teaching off Harry’s shoulders. He was sure that by Easter, the Senior group meetings would become sessions where they could practise whatever they wanted. He did have a thought over Christmas break that he could up their meetings to two times a week… But ever since he agreed to do Healing lessons, was reinstated to the Quidditch team and now he had to learn Occlumency, he had no clue if he would have free time. Plus, their homework would likely be ramped up again. He had a feeling he was going to be using the time delay feature in the Room of Requirement quite a lot this term.

Ophelia elected to stay behind, so spent a good five minutes saying farewell to Theo in particular. “What are you going to do with us going back to school, mum?” Theo asked his mother.

“Well, I had applied to St Mungo’s to work on the children's ward before, but your father found out and forbade me.. But with him out the picture now, I could maybe still do it. I might go and see them in person about it, once I find out he’s discharged.” Mrs Nott replied.

“That could be dangerous if he sees you there,” Sirius pointed out, “I could go with you one day, if you want?”

Mrs Nott looked at him. “Oh, Sirius, would you? You’re so kind. I’ll have a think about it.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Sirius said, glancing at the woman caringly. They definitely had to leave then, as it was almost half-past ten. They said goodbye to Mrs Nott only last time before Floo’ing to King’s Cross Station.

When they arrived at school, they met up with Hermione and the Weasley’s in the Entrance Hall, all of them looking a bit queasy. “That was the worst experience of my life,” Ron said, puffing his cheeks out, “it didn’t help we could hear a woman spewing upstairs…”

They all had to sit at their house tables that night, but Harry and co were soon surrounded by their DA friends. They all thanked and hugged one another for the Christmas presents they had each received, and were eager to learn when the first session back was. Harry told them this Saturday, and to have a read up on duelling, as that was what they were starting. The members seemed thrilled with that, and couldn’t wait to get stuck in again.

He nudged Susan, who was sitting back-to-back with him at Hufflepuff table. “Well done on your aunt becoming Minister for Magic, by the way. I know that she’ll be great.”

Susan grinned widely. “Cheers, Harry! We’re all still buzzing from it. Did you read her speech in the paper?”

He nodded. “It was very good, and I can’t wait for her to root people like Malfoy Sr out of the Ministry. Do you know of anything else she’s planning?”

Susan lowered her voice, and talked quickly, as Dumbledore was making his way to the podium to start his speech. “Nothing’s confirmed, but she has an idea to totally shut down the Daily Prophet.”

Harry could hardly believe it. “Gosh, really?”

“Mmm-hmm. She hates how much rubbish it’s allowed to print, most of the time it's just pure gossip and smear campaigns. If she can’t shut it down, she’s going to at least totally sack Rita Skeeter and probably most of its other so-called ‘journalists’ and hire proper ones in their stead to report real news.” Susan explained.

Harry had to face the front then, as Dumbledore was about to speak. He couldn’t help but smirk smugly - he welcomed the idea of a totally new and proper  _ Daily Prophet  _ newspaper, and hoped the front page of the first new revamped edition included a picture of Rita Skeeter being escorted away from the headquarters, jobless and in tears.

“Welcome, welcome, everyone!” Dumbledore announced, his voice carrying around the room. “I hope you all had a wonderful few weeks off for Christmas holidays, and for those not celebrating I hope you had some nice down time. I won’t speak for long, as classes resume tomorrow, but I would just like to remind those of you that signed up to Madam Pomfrey’s extracurricular Healing lessons that they start tomorrow at seven in the Hospital Wing. Tomorrow’s meeting will be a taster session, and after it you can easily drop out if you don’t feel up to it. Being able to heal not only yourself, but others, is a very beneficial skill to have on your arsenal, even in these troubling times. Even if you do not wish to do it as a career, it is still time-saving being able to heal even the smallest break or cut. That is all.”

Subjects resumed the next morning, and by the end of double History of Magic, his wrist was quite sore with the amount of notes he made regarding the Witch Hunts of the 14th Century, and when they were walking to Potions, he passed Cho in the corridor; he flushed, thinking about how he’d kissed her after the last DA session before Christmas, under the mistletoe. She smiled eagerly at him as they shuffled with the crowd of people on their way to their next classes.

Potions, it turned out, was hellish, as Professor Snape did nothing to dispel his trepidation regarding the fact that as of next week, he’d be learning Occlumency in private with the teacher. Snape was as unpleasant as ever, and seemed to get even more irate when he couldn’t take points from Harry’s near-perfect concoction. Theo, who was over at the Slytherin desk, smiled knowingly. More than once, Harry noticed his twin make eye contact with Theo across the room, and they seemed to be mouthing words to one another and smiling. He brushed off any concerns, though he had noticed those two become closer since before the end of last term…

Double Defence at the end of the day was vigorous, and Remus took them through the Hex-Deflection Spell, which proved very useful for them to learn. It took until the end of the double for even half the class to master it, and they all agreed they’d spend the rest of the week on it, for it was one of the tougher spells. Remus grinned at them as they left the class, and patted Harry, Amelia and Dorea sympathetically as they disembarked the class.

  
  


After dinner, the five of them made their way to the Hospital Wing, and when they got there, the Hufflepuff fifth year girls were already there. They waved enthusiastically at them as they lined up.    
“I cannot wait to get started,” Hannah had said, “I’ve been reading up over the holidays.”

“Is Theodore coming, Amelia?” Megan asked quietly. The circle of girls grinned and giggled when Amelia’s face turned beet red despite her best efforts.

“He’s not really interested, though he might still decide to join.” She replied, smiling at her girl friends.

Madam Pomfrey soon turned up and let them inside. When they entered, everyone seemed to notice that the Hospital Wing was at least three times its normal size - clearly, an expansion Charm of some sort had been placed on it to maximise space within the room.

The first session had attracted about fifty people. Pansy Parkinson and her friends had all signed up, to their chagrin, as to be a Healer you had to be friendly. Daphne soon found them and came wandering over, looking optimistic. Padma, Parvati, Lavender and Tracey were more girls in their year that had signed up. Cho Chang and a group of her sixth year friends had come along too, as had Katie Bell. Though the girls outnumbered the boys, some male students had come along too.

“Okay, now that we’re all here, let’s get started.” Madam Pomfrey spoke up, and they all hushed down. The Hogwarts Matron explained mostly what the bulletin in their common rooms had talked about, though in slightly less vague detail. She also said that in order for them to gain practical experience, - ie, mend broken bones and such, that they would be practising on consenting seventh year students as they were of age. That sounded quite brutal, and Amelia didn’t envy them in the slightest, having to constantly have their bones broken for a few seconds and then be mended again.

“So, for this session, we obviously aren’t going to be mending broken bones - that’s more reserved for later on in the course, for reasons that its quite advanced,” Madam Pomfrey said, “so for today’s first session, I think it appropriate to start off with learning how to heal small cuts. We will initially start off by healing ourselves, but I would like us to work with each other as well. What I would like us to do is to very lightly give ourselves a cut - somewhere on our hands, please, but keep away from veins. When that is done I will explain the process of how to heal it up.”

Everyone managed to cut themselves safely, though in most cases it was just people pricking themselves. Once Madam Pomfrey was satisfied, she carried on. “Now, the incantation for the first Healing spell we’ll learn is  _ Vulnera Sanentur.  _ Say it clearly, pronounced, and a simple circular wave of the wand will have it perfectly succeed.”

As predicted, Hermione was among the first to cast it, though within minutes everyone else had managed it fine. She had them repeat that task for about ten minutes, and went around giving tips and advice regarding incantations and so forth. When everyone was confident, Madam Pomfrey went to the front. “Fantastic efforts, I am pleased with your first attempts. Before we move on to bruises, I would like us to all copy down some notes regarding the process to heal cuts and the spell we just used.” A blackboard, which was previously occupying the corner furthest from the door, was wheeled beside Pomfrey and soon enough some writing appeared for them. The next five minutes or so was spent in almost complete silence, scratching their quills against the paper as they vigorously noted down the writing.

Once everyone had made notes, Pomfrey moved on. “Next thing we will cover is how to heal up bruises. Does anyone here know what can be particularly useful to heal up bruises?”

Harry’s hand shot up in the air. Madam Pomfrey waited a few moments before nodding towards him. “Yes, Potter?”

“The Bruisewort Balm,” he answered confidently.

“Good answer, five points to Gryffindor.” Pomfrey grinned, “as Mr Potter rightly pointed out, the Bruisewort Balm is a potion that, as it says on the tin, can be used to heal up bruises we sustain. It is quite an easy potion, yet very easy to go wrong. It is very surprisingly not on the Hogwarts curriculum either, which is not very beneficial to us.” At that, Harry, Dorea and Amelia all shared a smirk, for they had brewed it at Black Manor. “However, in the library there are plenty of potions books which feature its ingredients and recipe. For your ‘homework’ task, I want you all to find it and copy it down into your books, just so you know it.”

Amelia made a note in her parchment notebook to do that task. Madam Pomfrey carried on. “As well as physically applying a substance to heal a bruise, there is also a spell which does it for you. It is a bit trickier to learn than the previous spell, but we will spend the rest of this session learning it, as there is no rush. The incantation is  _ Sana Livore,  _ and the wand movement is semi-circular, moving from left to right. In order to magically give yourself a bruise, the incantation is  _ Pessima est Plaga Conjure.  _ It doesn’t have a particular wand movement, just point your wand wherever you want the bruise and it will appear. _ ” _

The two incantations were soon written on the blackboard for all to see. Everyone soon internally agreed that magically giving yourself a bruise was far easier than magically getting rid of it; even the seventh years were having trouble initially. By the end of the first session, only a handful of people had managed to rid themselves of a bruise.

“Very good attempt, everyone!” Madam Pomfrey praised. “Feel free to practise it either on yourselves or on each other before our next meeting in a fortnight. Good day to you all!”

As they walked back to Gryffindor common room, they discussed the first Healing lesson with each other. “I quite like how it was neither too easy nor too difficult,” Amelia commented.

The other four nodded. “I might come next session,” Ron said, “though I don’t know if I could actually see and stomach a broken bone…”

The fifth years had all been assigned homework that day, and the teachers showed them no mercy; some of their work was due as soon as their next lesson, so they all decided to stay and work together in the common room, all helping each other out. Amelia was sat with Neville and Dean, working through the Potions questions Snape had set that day.

When Neville got up to sharpen his quill, Dean leaned in close to her. “So, you and Theo…”

She looked right at him, shocked. “How do you know?”

He chuckled. “Relax, Amelia, he told me in private. He’s my friend too, y’know.”

“I hope you haven’t told anyone else.” Was all she said regarding it, eying Dean.

“Course not, and I intend to keep it a secret. It’s not my business to snitch on you to your own twin brother anyway.” He said honestly.

She sighed in relief. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

He laughed, and they got back to their work when Neville returned from the bin. Amelia wanted to talk to Neville privately regarding when they seen him just days ago, on Christmas Day, visiting his parents, who it turned out were permanent residents due to the brain damage inflicted on them by Bellatrix Lestrange and others. Though Neville certainly looked happier now than he did on that day, you could tell he was still feeling awkward regarding it.

As it got closer to midnight, more and more people started going to their dorms (except the fifth years), so they gradually started talking louder amongst themselves. Ron had come back from the toilet when he had stopped at the bulletin board. “I didn’t realise the next Hogsmeade weekend was on Valentine’s Day!” He said loudly, causing them to turn around. 

“Perfect day for you and Theodore,” Dean whispered, causing her to stifle laughter.

“Yeah right, if Harry saw me and him on a date he’d flip. What about you? Planning to give anyone roses and take them to Madam Puddifoot’s?” She half joked.

Dean fumbled a bit. “Erm, yeah, I have a plan to ask a special someone.”

She glanced up at her friend. “Oooh, who? Ginny’s broken up with Michael Corner, if you’re interested.”

Dean smiled. “Ginny’s great and all, but it’s not her.” He had paused, as if unsure whether or not to say it.

“You can keep it to yourself if you want-”

“It’s Seamus.” Dean whispered to her.

She almost took a few seconds to comprehend. But then her heart burst. “Dean!” She quietly squealed, “That’s adorable!”

He looked shocked, but relieved, “You don’t think me d-disgraceful for being attracted to someone of the opposite sex?”

“Why would I?” She grinned at him, “I’m not bigoted in any way shape or form. Love is love, as they say.”

Dean pulled her into a one-armed sideways hug. “Oh my gosh, I was so worried that…. That you would react badly.”

“Nonsense,” she brushed off that concern, then paused for a few moments before saying, “Do you think Seamus feels the same way?”

Dean glanced around at his inseparable acquaintance, who was across the room with Harry. “To be honest, I really don’t know.”

“Then there’s no harm in finding out. He doesn’t even seem like he’d be offended if you asked him.” She said under her breath.

“When’s a good time to ask him, do you think?”

“Well, when are you two usually alone, spending time together?” She asked him.

Dean had a thought. “Usually at morning intervals and that.”

“Then that’s perfect!” She guessed, “You could ask him to come to the bathroom with you, wait until nobody’s in there, and ask him! Or just in an empty corridor?”

Dean lit up. “Amelia Potter, you are a genius!” He hugged her again. Neville looked confused but happy.

At half past midnight, they had finally done their homework due for that week, and let out small celebrations when they got up to gladly go to bed. 

At breakfast the next morning, Harry and the others were a bit confused when Hermione’s  _ Daily Prophet  _ arrived, for the second she laid it out flat on the table she gave out a little yelp.

“Christ, what’s the matter with you?” Ron complained, as he’d been chewing on his bacon roll.

Their answer was found when they laid eyes upon the front page, as ten magical photographs of people were displayed. The headline caused them to feel ominous: “ **_MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN PRISON”_ **

The article, probably the most disturbing one they had come across so far, read:

“ _ Late last night, the Ministry of Magic received reports that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban prison. _

_ Addressing the Wizengamot before the start of session this morning, Minister for Magic Amelia Bones expressed deep concern: “We can confirm that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of this morning. Muggle Prime Minister John Major has been informed of the dangerous nature of these particular individuals. _

_ “We urge the magical community to stay alert and be cautious. On no account whatsoever should these individuals be approached - they can and will kill.” Bones said. _

_ A spokesperson for the Wizengamot suggested to us that the Ministry has an idea that former Death Eaters are being used as rallying points for these escapees and may be housing them. “We have to consider all possibilities, and if it means the Auror’s have to storm homes and conduct thorough searches, then so be it.” _

_ The escaped Death Eater’s in question are as follows: _

_ Antonin Dolohov, convicted of the brutal murders of Fabian and Gideon Prewett. _

_ Algernon ‘Algie’ Rookwood, convicted of leaking Ministry intel to He Who Must Not Be Named. _

_ Rodolphus Lestrange, assisted in the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom _

_ His brother, Rabastan Lestrange, was convicted of the same crime. _

_ Mulciber, convicted of torturing innocent muggles for no reason in Bristol and Cardiff on two separate occasions. _

_ Augustus Rookwood, convicted of spying for the Death Eater’s during the First Wizarding War. _

_ Travers, guilty of the murder of Marlene McKinnon and her family _

_ Jugson, guilty of assisting in the murder of Edgar Bones and half of his family. _

_ Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapaciation of Frank and Alice Longbottom. _

Harry’s heart fell through the floor when he read the last name, for the mousy, round face with straggly hair staring back at him, he knew all too well. 

_ Peter Pettigrew, convicted of framing Sirius Black for murder and killing twelve muggles. Largely suspected of being responsible for the deaths of James and Lily Potter, and bringing He Who Must Not Be Named back to a living form. _

The five of them could hardly speak. Looking up at the staff table, neither Remus nor Sirius were down for breakfast yet. The Great Hall around them seemed to all be talking about the headline news, as a lot of people were looking very grim. McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Dumbledore were in deep conversation, and soon enough Babbling and Vector had gone over to join them. When Remus and Sirius eventually appeared, Hagrid was showing them the article immediately, and Harry could pinpoint the exact moment they read Pettigrew’s name, for their eyes widened and their jaws tightened. He had seen Sirius gasp and clamp his mouth when he read Traver’s name as well; after all, that man had helped to kill Marlene, Dorea’s mother, who Sirius was obviously quite fond of, they had been engaged before her untimely death.

Hermione had gasped again - she had skimmed a few pages ahead, and came upon another article it seemed. “What now?” Dorea asked.

Hermione pointed to a smaller but eye-catching article on page eight. 

“ **_TRAGIC DEATH OF MINISTRY WORKER_ **

_ “We  _ **_will_ ** _ investigate this,” was the response from St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries last night, as it was found that a Ministry of Magic worker, Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead late last night, strangled by a plant. Healer’s were rushed to the scene, but sadly it was all too late when they arrived; Bode had already passed. _

_ Mr Bode had initially been transferred to the hospital after getting injured at his workplace two weeks prior. _

_ The Healer who was personally in charge of Mr Bode’s care at the time has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment when we tried to speak to her. However, Head MediWizard for the ward Mr Bode was in, spoke to us. _

_ “Mr Bode’s death is very tragic, and his family have been informed. We have strict guidelines on what presents are allowed and not allowed, but it seemed the Healer overlooked the danger this seemingly innocent potted plant posed. It was placed on his bedside table and was supposedly a Christmas gift. On first glance, it seemed to be an unsuspecting Flitterbloom, but upon further investigation, it actually proved to be a Devil’s Snare, which strangled Mr Bode when he touched it, causing his death.” _

“Hey, wasn’t he on the same ward as Lockhart?” Amelia whispered.

“Oh, yeah, he was!” Hermione leaned in, “We saw that plant arrive as well!”

“Wait, we could have prevented Bode from dying… His family wouldn’t be grieving right now if we had been more streetwise!” Harry said, suddenly feeling awful; if they had realised just who Broderick Bode was, and had a proper look at the plant that arrived for him, his loved ones wouldn’t be crying their eyes out right now over the loss of a relative.

“I don’t think it's our fault, Harry,” Ron countered a tad sharply, “whoever sent it in the first place is to blame!”

“You can’t deny that this was a murder, though - a clever one as well.” Hermione said, a tad shakilly. “The plant arrived with no note, so how is anyone meant to get justice for Mr Bode if they have no clue who did it in the first place?!”

Harry soon had another awful reawakening, as he had met Bode before their hospital visit: back in the summer, at his Hearing, the man had got out on the same level as him and Mr Weasley, and had went into the room where that door was, down the end of the corridor… He suddenly felt very put off his cereal.

Classes on Tuesday morning were very initially boisterous, as everyone was talking about the Azkaban escapees. In Transfiguration, McGonagall had to raise her voice on a few occasions and threatened to not only take house points but to change the seating plan as well. Everyone soon shut up. In double Herbology at the end of the day, Susan was downtrodden that the man responsible for half of her family’s deaths was now on the loose, and commented that she now knew what it felt like to be Harry. “Everyone was whispering anyway when my aunt became Minister, but now they’re whispering because the man that killed the other half of my family is an escapee. I truly don’t know how you handle it, Harry, it’s awful.” Dorea was another person who had been quiet that day, which was quite unusual for her.

At dinner, Alicia Spinnet, who had just been in Astronomy with Sirius, commented how the man wasn’t his usual self during the class. Harry looked up at the staff table, and even though the man was listening to Remus saying something, his eyes looked elsewhere. 

On Thursday, during Double Charms, Flitwick held Harry back at the end of class and said that he could return to his previous position in the club; as a referee. Harry pretended to be elated, and acted as though the DA hadn’t actually been meeting in secret during Umbridge’s ban of the club. He had to come up with a fib that he had told the DA the spells to revise the theory of whilst Umbridge had suspended its meetings, which Flitwick seemed to buy. The Charms professor back being a referee was a good thing though - he would have another helping hand, and everyone’s query could be catered to now. 

Saturday soon rolled around, and with it came the first DA session back. The Senior’s all arrived early, eager to start learning about formal and informal duels.

“Duelling takes many forms - there’s formal duels that have structure, informal ones that are random and often lethal, and of course there’s one with odd or even numbers on each side. Duelling takes place in battles too, another form which I plan to cover with you all.” Harry explained to the Senior’s, Flitwick standing nearby. “Before we start duelling each other, does anyone want to volunteer to duel me, as an example?”

The Room was silent, as people kept looking amongst themselves. It was a bit silent, and Harry didn’t particularly want to have to pick someone at random. However, Seamus soon offered. “You’re on, Potter,” the boy had grinned as he stepped forward.

“Okay, great,” Harry smiled, “me and Seamus are going to duel formally - with Professor Flitwick obviously observing and making sure everythings fair and monitored. Now, a formal duel starts with the combatants facing and bowing,” he paused, as he and Seamus demonstrated a bit gingerly, “and we each turn our backs on one another to walk about ten to twenty paces - for today, lets do fifteen.”

Harry counted fifteen steps in his head before turning back around. Seamus looked to be quite far away, but was still within perfect striking distance. He spoke up again. “Now our referee will step between us and explain the rules briefly before counting down about five seconds before the duel begins. I’ve read that in duelling competitions, the person's surname who comes first alphabetically gets to send out the first spell.” He looked at his Charm’s teacher, who nodded, impressed. Flitwick was, after all, a Duelling champion who had won many trophies.

“That’ll be me then,” Seamus said, half the room chuckling. Harry smirked, and felt eager to get duelling as Flitwick explained the rules to them; which was basically - no Unforgivables or lethal spells that caused serious pain, and that the first person to be either disarmed, stunned, or injured would be the loser.

He stepped back, and counted down the five seconds. Seamus looked at Harry with a friendly grin, though Harry was prepared for the boy to be very quick at casting and dodging. He was right, for it seemed only a nanosecond passed before Seamus quickly sent out his first spell - a Tripping Jinx. Harry sidestepped it, not thinking it worthy of putting a protective shield up this early. In response, Harry sent out a Disarming Hex, which was sent out that quick Seamus was almost the loser, as he threw up a hasty  _ Protego.  _ It had done the job, but had immediately weakened.

Harry was very impressed with Seamus, and soon enough he ignored everyone else, for the boy was certainly keeping him on his toes and alert. After five minutes, though, Seamus was clearly tiring, as his incantations were starting to be spoken slower. Harry had the advantage of having access to Duelling chambers back at Black Manor, but didn’t go that hard on him. The duel finished when Harry sent out not one but two Stunning Spells, sending Finnigan soaring through the air. Luckily, a Cushioning Charm had been placed on the solid floor beforehand, so Seamus wasn’t knocked out. Harry went to offer a hand up whilst the others applauded.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Seamus asked, in something akin to wonder as he got to his feet.

“My godfather used to be an Auror,” he said, “he taught me a few things over the summer.”

Seamus went back over to stand beside Dean and the other boys after Harry quickly gave him feedback. 

When the clapping had died down, he spoke up again. “So, that was a formal duel. There’s not quite enough room for all of us to space out and duel a partner at a suitable distance, so I have another idea,” he paused as he brought forward the magical dummies, which could be brought somewhat to life. “These magical dummies can be used at any time. On their right-hand side, there are loads of different settings you can have them at in order to duel them. I’d highly recommend starting on them first before we pair off. There’s one for everyone.”

The rest of the session, everyone was glad of being able to go at their own pace. A lot of the Seniors were working their way through each settings to find out which particular one they were suited to - the seventh years mainly chose settings such as ‘NEWT level student’ or ‘Training Auror’, whilst the fifth and sixth years were content at ‘OWL level student’ or ‘Aspiring Duellist’ respectively.

He was very impressed, watching them all duel the dummies. Some people, such as Blaise, went for a more flamboyant approach and looked very stylish whilst doing so, whilst others treated it like any other ordinary battle. A good handful of people ended up being flung backwards or stunned, but they were relieved and revived in no time. 

At the end of the session, the seniors were tired but satisfied. Some had even begun to sweat slightly; they had worked themselves that vigorously. 

As he stayed slightly behind to put the dummies back in place, he was surprised to see that Cho was still standing around. “Hey, Harry,” she had said.

“Oh, hi Cho. You were great at duelling the dummy.” He said, trying not to stutter.

Cho Chang blushed. “Thanks. How was your Christmas?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad,” Harry replied.

Cho started to look rather flushed for some reason. “Erm… did you see there’s a Hogsmeade weekend on the fourteenth of next month?”

“Oh, yeah, I heard someone mention it.” Harry said, wheeling the last dummy back in place. He then realised that next month was February, and that the fourteenth of February was a certain day to do with romance… “I suppose you want to-”

“Only if you want.” Cho cut in eagerly.

He stared at her, and felt his heart racing. He plucked up some courage. “D’you want to go to Hogsmeade with me on Valentine’s Day?”

“Oooh, yes, I’d love to!” Was the girl's response, looking very giddy and beaming happily.

He smiled, relieved, “Right, well, that’s that then.”

Harry left the Room of Requirement, though he didn’t actually remember walking back to Gryffindor Tower. He felt like he was floating, that his feet were simply not touching the ground at all. He was going on a date with Cho Chang, one of the most popular girls in the school?! How on earth had he gotten this lucky? 

He had gone into the boy’s bathroom shortly before bed, and had gotten a shock when he saw Theo in there - for the boy's face was slightly bruised and his lip was burst.

“Theo, what on earth happened? Were you attacked again?” Harry was on red alert.

“You could say that,” a voice from one of the cubicles said, and Harry recognised it as another certain friend of his.

“Blaise, you’re in here too?” He asked.

“Mm-hm.” was the boy's response. He came out about thirty seconds later, trying to stem bleeding from a cut on his face.

“Right, what happened?” He demanded, as he got out his wand and used the cut healing spell on the wound. Blaise quickly thanked him..

“We got into a fight with Crabbe and Goyle.” Theo admitted.

“Er, it was all you Theo, I just got involved as I tried to get them off each other.” Blaise quickly added, chuckling.

He looked between the two of them. “Why? You’ve been friendly with them for years.”

“I’ll let Theodore take this one.” Blaise muttered, and meandered over to the sink.

Theo sighed. “I overheard them talking crap about…”

“Who?”

“Your twin sister.”

Harry’s brows came together. “What on earth did they say? I would have done the same, but they’re always talking bad about people?”

“Well, Harry, they said derogatory things regarding your mum at first, and then started spewing out some shite regarding Amelia - like calling her ugly and filthy, and, well… I just snapped.” Theo explained, looking at him via the mirror.

“You started punching them?” Harry was a bit amazed.

“Nah, I warned them first. They kept retaliating, and then Goyle just shoved me. I took that as my cue to start teaching them a lesson; after all, Goyle laid a hand on me first, so I had a right to defend myself. I smacked him in the jaw - which must be made of steel, it was sore, and then Crabbe started screeching and hitting my arm, but that didn’t even hurt. I don’t remember much after that; we just went kind of round and round in a punching circle until Blaise stepped in. Vincent managed to accidentally smack him near the nose.”

Harry processed it all. “Did Draco get involved?”

“He didn’t quite know what to do at first, but after a few punches he elected to just egg us on.” Theo said, rinsing his face.

“Well… Thanks for defending my sister’s name. It was a nice thing to do - I’d stand up for my friends like that too, even if it means getting roughed around.” Harry said earnestly.

Theo nodded, though Harry noticed the two Slytherin boys share a look. After Harry had washed his hands, a thought suddenly hit him. “Wait a minute, did you perhaps defend Amelia for other reasons, Theo?”

Theo Nott looked a bit comical with his eyes wide and almost frozen in place. Blaise looked unsure whether or not to speak on his best friends behalf. Theo was a stuttering mess. “Erm…”

“Theodore, are you dating my twin sister?”

“Er… Alright, yes, Harry, I am.” Was Theo’s response.

Hearing it from the boy himself, Harry still felt like he’d been glued to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO EVIL FOR LEAVING THE CHAPTER ON THAT LMAOOO it's fair to say Harry is SHOOK.  
> Also; yes I ship Dean and Seamus


	24. Oclumency Lessons Commence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: More Ministry news, including a massive overhaul of a certain newspaper, and Harry's Occlumency lessons get tougher.

“You are dating my sister,” Harry repeated slowly, as if he didn’t believe it; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to or not.

“Yes.” Theo straightened up and looked him in the eyes. “Look, I know it looks like we went behind your back, mate, but it’s not like that.”

He suppressed his anger. If their reason for not telling him was genuine enough, he would allow it. “Okay.”

“We only actually started dating about a week before Christmas holidays - I asked her out when me and her went to the Room of Requirement to get my Patronus charm mastered. It was there that I, em, told her how I felt. She feels the same. We’ve kind of been taking it slow ever since.” Theo explained, Blaise leaning against the wall of one of the cubicles, also listening.

Harry stared at his friend - who was, in fact, his twin sister's boyfriend. All sorts of thoughts were going through his head; at first, he wanted nothing but to throttle Theo, but now he wasn’t so sure. He could understand why they’d been hesitant, but there was no need at all for them to be so secret about it around him. He wasn’t a psychopathic type of protective at all; quite frankly, he knew that Amelia could take care of herself, so he wasn’t worried about her in that regard, but he didn’t quite know if Theo’s ‘love’ was actually love; who knows, it could just be a short-term infatuation, and what if the boy broke up with Amelia the second that pining was over? It would definitely make his twin so upset she would need to be consoled for at least a week.

“Er, right,” Harry spoke at last, “this is a bit awkward. You’re a good friend, Theo, and I’d like it to stay that way very much. I personally have no qualms at all that you’re dating Amelia - for I can tell you’re both well suited… Gosh, I sound like a dad so much… just, erm, don’t hurt her feelings, ever.”

“Trust me, he knows not to ever disrespect her.” Blaise snickered.

Harry let out a smile. “What did she say?”

“She’d curse me with _Densaugeo_ for over a week if I ever hurt her in any way shape or form.” Theo admitted, blushing a deep crimson. All three of them found themselves laughing at that point, despite the tenseness of barely five minutes ago. 

  
  


Amelia found herself almost falling asleep by the fire in the common room. Her, Dorea and Hermione were still up, doing Ancient Runes homework due for Monday. They had done battle with it for almost two hours now and were almost done it, but the last section was driving them near mad.

She wondered what was taking Harry so long; he had been gone almost ten minutes now. Though she thought it was unlikely that he was in mortal peril, she still couldn’t help but wonder what was keeping him.

The common room door swung open, and Harry entered, thankfully unharmed. He practically skipped right over to them and plopped back down where he had been sitting with them before he left. Harry spoke up all of a sudden. “I know you’re dating Theodore Nott, Amelia.”

She almost froze in shock, and she could feel Dorea and Hermione’s eyes on her. She was just thankful there was nobody else in the dimly lit room except them. “Harry, I…” She found she just couldn’t get the words out. Was her brother angry? Was he just seconds away from screaming at her?

Harry, on the contrary, burst out laughing. She simply just stared, both at him and between her best friends. “You’re scaring me.” She said.

“I’m not mad,” Harry said, stifling another laugh, “not at all.”

Breathing a massive sigh of relief, she was glad for that at least. “Wait, how did you find out?”

“From Theo himself, though I did eventually work out why you two are so close.” Her brother replied, and started chuckling again, “he told me what you told him you would do if he ever hurt you.”

Amelia tried to rack her brain, thinking. She almost couldn’t remember her own threat… but then it came to her; she had told Theo before Christmas that she’d elongate his teeth for a week if she was ever treated badly. She blushed, and smirked. “Oh, yeah, that one.”

Once they finished their work, they finally got ready to head up to their dormitories and go to bed. They said farewell to Harry as he went up the boys stairs, whereas they went up the girls.

They tiptoed into their dorm, which was dimly lit as Parvati and Lavender were obviously asleep. As they got ready for bed, Hermione quietly asked her. “Are you going to tell Ron that you’re dating Theo?”

She had a think. “Harry will probably tell him in the morning, but I will if he doesn’t?”

“And my dad?” Dorea asked knowingly. 

Amelia shook her head fiercely as a response. “He will go mental, Dorea - berzerk. He might even curse Theo in the corridors or something.”

“He can’t be that protective, can he?” Hermione giggled.

“Trust me, he is.” Amelia and Dorea answered at the same time. With that, their candles were blown out, and soon enough the curtains were around their individual beds. Amelia fell asleep within the hour.

The first week of term was concluded before anyone could really blink. That Sunday was spent slightly more relaxed, as none of the teachers really assigned work to do over the weekend. Amelia spent time alternating between her groups of friends and boyfriend. That Sunday, there was a Friendly Quidditch match happening between the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and Hufflepuff’s Reserve’s - clearly, Hufflepuff were really wanting to get fit before they faced Slytherin on the 17th of February, so Amelia and Theo went to the stands on Sunday at midday to watch the match.

She cheered on Megan and Wayne enthusiastically, as they were the Beater’s on the official team. She sent Zacharias some encouragement too - though a tad reluctantly, as even though Zach was a DA member, not very many people actually seemed to like him. As Theo was into Quidditch as well (he was thinking of trying out for the Slytherin team next year, as Montague and Warrington were graduating in June, leaving their positions open for next season), they chatted amongst themselves about the Hufflepuff team and its players. 

“Summerby is very broad and strong for a Seeker,” she remarked as the burly bloke whizzed past them.

“Yeah, it's no wonder he barely manages to catch the Snitch,” Theo uttered.

Amelia barked laughter. “Theo!”

“What? It’s true, he’s not managed to catch the Snitch _ once  _ this year, he’s  _ always _ been beaten to it. That’s why Hufflepuff are joint last with Ravenclaw in the Quidditch Cup.” He countered, smiling.

She decided to joke around. “Aww, is someone jealous that I called some random boy strong and broad?” Amelia said in a mock childish voice.

Theo raised a brow at her. “No, of course not.”

She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. “Theodore Nott, are you actually jealous?”

He blushed despite himself. “N-no-”

“-You are!” She almost squealed, and laughed. He insisted he wasn’t, and they went back and forth like this for about a minute. They were ultimately distracted when they heard shouting coming from the pitch - Zacharias was furious with the Keeper, for the Reserve’s had just scored another goal. They were bickering and shouting at each other so much that members of both teams had to come between them to stop a midair brawl. Madam Hooch gave each player a foul and warned them that they were bound to be sent off if this had been a real game.

“Megan did say that Zacharias and the Keeper hate each other,” she pondered out loud. 

“I know about it,” Theo said, and Amelia urged him to say more. He did, “Bletchley said to us one day that Smith and the Keeper are cousins, but their parents don’t get on with each other for some unknown reason. It’s really strange and mysterious.” 

She had expected a more darker reason than that, but nodded nonetheless. “Christmas couldn’t have been fun, assuming their family all spent it together.” She remarked.

Theo laughed. “Yeah, it was probably miserable for them, just like any other day with my father around.”

She looked at him thoughtfully. “Have you heard anything regarding your father? Is he out of hospital yet?”

He pouted and shook his head. “I don’t really care to know. I’d be far happier if my uncle sent me a letter; maybe a Hogsmeade weekend he could come and visit? I just really want to see him again.”

“I know how you feel,” Amelia replied, thinking back to the end of third year and all of fourth year, where her, Harry and Dorea had barely seen Sirius and how much they craved even moments with him. She reckoned Theo was definitely feeling the same with his uncle, who was called Proteus. 

Out on the pitch, the Hufflepuff Official Team was gaining ground fast. Megan had pulled off quite a spectacular move - the Seeker had previously been getting chased by a Bludger, and Megan, who wouldn’t be able to get over in time to beat it away, threw her Beater’s bat to the Seeker, who caught it and used it to beat the Bludger away. Though the match was a Friendly, it was far from that; it was getting brutal. Cadwallader, the Captain and one of the Chasers, was constantly bellowing orders that even the people in the stands could hear. Amelia reckoned she’d prefer a mouthful from Angelina than Cadwallader any day of the week, and that was saying something - for Angelina could get scary when she wanted to.

The Official team beat the Reserve’s in the end, but only just. Summerby had managed to catch the Snitch (“He’s only gone and finally done his job!” Theo had said in mock amazement), and the Reserve Seeker looked gutted. The Friendly match ended just as grey clouds rolled in over the Forbidden Forest, meaning that rain was probably on the way soon.

They jogged back into the safe haven of the castle just before a deluge of rain arrived, chuckling to themselves. They both decided to go to the library, as Theo had a Transfiguration essay to finish off but he needed help with it. They found a desk near a window and got to work - though they did get distracted multiple times. Daphne, Tracey, Astoria and Ginny sat at a desk near them, though they kept jokingly clutching their chests and saying ‘aww’ whenever Amelia and Theo even looked at one another, which was quite funny. Madam Pince soon came over and told them to be quiet, though, which they had to be in the end else they risked getting kicked out of the library. Once they had done that, they both ventured to the Room of Requirement - for Amelia wanted to get more practise in with wandless magic, whilst Theo just fancied some reading. Harry had shown her and Dorea the time delay feature, which was pretty cool to learn about as it meant they could slow down time and get things done. She only slowed time down for one hour, though, as she didn’t want their body clocks getting interfered with too much.

  
  


On Monday evening, the common room was quite hectic with the seventh years, as tomorrow marked the start of a two-week long mock exam period, where all seventh years sat tests made by their teachers which mimicked exactly what a NEWT exam was like. The first subject up was Charms tomorrow morning, where they would sit a question paper, and then in the afternoon they had a practical. Angelina and Alicia looked particularly stressed as they wanted to get good marks, even though their results for their mocks didn’t really add anything to their actual grade at the end of the year. Some seventh years, such as Fred, George and Lee, looked a bit more laid back; Harry couldn’t tell if it was because they didn’t really care or were just not as bothered. It seemed that every Gryffindor in the common room, from first to sixth years, were walking on eggshells around them, as they revised every single Charm there was and the theory behind it. Nobody seemed to envy the seventh years at all, and rightly so. When the Junior DA members had just returned from a good session with Harry (where they had started covering duelling as well), Angelina barked at them to be quiet the second the portrait hole was swung open.

Tuesday was a slightly different affair, as it was now mere hours away that Harry was to be alone with Professor Snape, learning Occlumency. He simply hadn’t had the chance to read up on it at all, so he was going into it blind and likely going to make a fool of himself. Since Snape barely even taught in his regular Potions class, and just expected everyone to know what they were doing the minute they stepped into his class, the man was likely to just expect Harry to know everything already; which annoyed him to another level, as the man said himself it was an obscure branch of magic that not many can master. 

Professor Flitwick was slightly late to Double Charms first thing, as he was giving the NEWT students some last minute words of encouragement before they went in to sit their mock Charm’s paper. Harry internally wished them all good luck and hoped nobody lost their cool too much. They finished off perfecting their Growth Charm’s and moved on to cover the theory of the Eradication Spell. Double Transfiguration went by almost too quickly for his liking, as it was soon lunch, which only meant that his looming Occlumency lesson was getting ever closer. Thankfully, Care of Magical Creatures went by a bit slower, but time only seemed to go faster when they were in the greenhouse for double Herbology; as before he knew it, the bell rang to signal the end of the seventh period. Harry trudged his way back up to the castle with his friends and surrendered himself to his impending doom that was sure to meet him when he was alone with Snape for god knows how long.

He ate dinner slowly, as if that would get time to pass slower. However, time just kept trickling towards six o’clock. He begrudgingly said goodbye to his friends at five minutes to six, and got up from the table feeling wholly dreadful. Looking up at the staff table as Hermione reminded him how important these lessons would be for him, Remus and Sirius were looking at him too, and were probably urging him to get going, so as not to be late. Snape was not at the table, though Harry didn’t notice him leaving at all.

Walking by himself to the dungeons, he had no clue what to expect. He knew Occlumency was to do with the mind, but what exactly did it entail? How on earth was he to protect it from ‘external penetration’, as Snape had called it? He couldn’t even control his nightmares most days, so how was he going to stop people like Snape or Voldemort from accessing his mind?

He knocked twice on the door to Snape’s office before entering.

“Close the door behind you, Potter.” Snape said when he immediately stepped inside. He did so, and awkwardly made his way over to where his Potions teacher was standing. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten just why you are here,” the man continued, “Dumbledore has asked me to teach you the study of Occlumency. I can only hope you master it quicker than you have Potions.”

“Okay,” was all Harry said to that.

“This may be something of an extracurricular class, Potter, but I am still your teacher and I expect you to still call me ‘sir’ or ‘Professor’ at all times.” Snape said, his eyes narrowing as he leered at him.

“Yes, sir,” Harry replied to be sure.

“Now, Occlumency. As I explained back in your mutt of a godfather's forsaken house, this branch of magic is designed to seal your mind against unknown attackers, who may wish to exploit your memories or your present state for their own gain.” Snape said, and it was then that Harry noticed Dumbledore’s Pensieve, which he had peered into last year.

“And why is it, sir, that I have to learn this and yet my twin sister does not?” He tried to ask in a neutral tone.

Snape stared at him for a few moments with contempt, as if he had sheer audacity to ask a question during this strange session. “Your twin sister has never experienced her mind being penetrated by dark forces, Potter, so therefore she is exempt from attending these sessions for now-”

“- _ For now?”  _ Harry cut in incredulously,

“-despite being related directly to you.” Snape spoke over him slowly. “However, it does seem likely that the Dark Lord will attempt to possibly try at a later date. She may join us in these sessions if that is the case.”

“And Dorea?” He dared to ask, and then added a “sir” quickly for good measure.

Snape snarled at him. “Are you that desperate not to be alone with me for an hour a week, Potter? What’s next, you’ll want Granger and the Weasley’s to also come along to these sessions, and those other friends that yap at your heels twenty four seven?”

“If it keeps them safe, then yes.” Harry was defiant.

Snape’s eyes went dark as he suddenly stormed closer to him, and was now within feet of his face. “Tough luck, Potter, I do not have time to be teaching the whole school this art, much less you. I am only doing so at the command of the Headmaster. You are taking up enough of my time as it is this evening, so I would prefer it if you stopped talking and we got started.” The man snarled venomously.

The two of them glared at one another as Snape finally went to move around the other side of the desk. The man pulled out his wand from his robes, and Harry tensed considerably, not knowing what was going to happen. Harry pulled his wand out too, but was virtually clueless as to what he was going to be doing with it.

“Stand up, Potter.” 

Harry slowly got out of the chair he was sitting in, feeling all of a sudden vulnerable. They faced one another with only a desk between them.

“You can use your wand to try and disarm me or defend yourself in any way you see fit,” Snape explained.

“And what are you going to do?” Harry asked nervously.

“I am going to break into your mind,” Snape said, taking position, “we are going to see how you resist. I have been told that last year, you had successfully resisted the Imperius Curse when your classmates did not. You will soon discover that similar powers are needed for this. Brace yourself, now.”

After what felt like only a picosecond, Snape thrust his wand forward and said, “ _ Legilimens!” _

Harry wasn’t prepared in the slightest, so therefore Snape met no resistance. The office disappeared before him, and instead memory after memory was flying before him like paper being flicked quickly.

One second he was about five, watching Dudley receive mountains of birthday presents whilst he and Amelia watched from the side, bubbling with jealousy. Now he was nine, being chased by Ripper the bulldog up a tree whilst the Dursley’s and Aunt Marge laughed from below and Amelia cried, Now he was sitting under the Sorting Hat…. Hermione was now petrified in the Hospital Wing… he was now meeting Sirius for the first time, in the Shack… now he was watching Dorea meet Sirius in a different scene, and feeling warm at a father finally meeting his daughter… he was now banishing the Dementor’s… Cho Chang was about to kiss him under the mistletoe…

_ No,  _ Harry’s inner conscience seemed to be screaming,  _ you’re not getting to see that, you’re not watching that, that’s private… _

He was suddenly yanked back into reality, as the memories had disappeared and he was back in the present - though he was greeted with the cold hard floor. He must’ve fell under the pressure. Snape was looking apprehensive. “Did you mean to hit me with a Stinging Jinx?”

“No.” Harry replied earnestly.

“No,  _ sir,”  _ Snape reminded him, “You completely lost control, though you did eventually manage to stop me from seeing more. You wasted time and energy by shouting, though. You have to remain focused.”

Harry nodded, though he didn’t remember how he sent out the Stinging Jinx. Already he was quite breathless and starting to get hot. ”I’m trying to, but you’re not telling me how!”

“Manners, Potter,” Snape snapped dangerously, “now close your eyes.”

Harry shot the man a filthy look before doing what he was told. He could hear Snape walking in a circle around him. “Close your mind, Potter, let go of all emotion…”

Harry’s frustration was here to stay, though. The man wasn’t even telling him of a method as to how to lose emotion, or better yet stop him from getting into his head. Letting go of his emotions would be akin to asking Dumbledore to give up his powers.

“One.. two.. Three…  _ Legilimens!” _

All at once, Harry saw the Hungarian Horntail from last year, roaring before him, beating its huge wings… he then saw his father and mother waving affectionately from the Mirror of Erised… But now he felt like he stumbled, and when he got up, he was leaning on top of Cedric’s body, but the boy's eyes were lifeless, staring at nothing…

“NOOOOO!”

He found himself indeed, on the floor again. The back of his head was hurting as if someone had tried to surgically remove it from his head but had botched it. 

“ _ Get up!” _ Snape commanded harshly, “Get up! You are really not making an effort. You are just about giving me unlimited access to things that make you feel vulnerable!”

“I’m trying!” Harry insisted, though it fell on death ears.

“You are not ridding yourself of emotion!”

“Yeah? Well, that’s quite tough just now.” He snapped back.

“Then the Dark Lord will find easy pickings!” Snape sounded savagely. “Weak people have no chance against his almighty power! He will get into your mind with absurd ease, Potter, and manipulate it!”

“Well, it’s quite hard to do if I do not know a method or something to prevent it quicker!” He countered angrily, clutching his scar. 

“The only method you need to know, Potter, is how to empty your mind,” Snape bit back, rounding on him. “Which you are already incompetent at.”

“It’s only my second try at this, sir!” He protested, less harshly, “I’m not exactly going to master it in only my first session, am I?”

“Then prove you are not weak by mastering  _ yourself _ ! Control your anger, discipline your mind! Get ready now, we go again!  _ Legilimens!” _

He was now observing Uncle Vernon hammering bars to his window during the summer holidays before second year… hundreds of Dementors were now hovering around him in the Forest… he and Mr Weasley were now running through the crowds at the Ministry of Magic, trying to get to Courtroom Ten despite already being late… They were now running down that corridor… When Harry had a realisation.

He must’ve managed to get Snape out, or Snape stopped, as he was now back in the present and once again on the floor of Snape’s office. He pushed himself up onto his feet again and faced his Potions teacher. 

“What was that corridor, Potter?” Snape asked slowly.

Suddenly realising that Snape had seen it too, Harry tried to mask his emotion of triumph. That corridor, where the door was - beyond that door was the Department of Mysteries, and that was where Mr Weasley had been attacked by that snake of Voldemort’s.

He cleared his face as best as he could and cleared his throat. “I don’t really know, I just remember it from my Hearing in August.”

Professor Snape eyed him with a close look. “I think it would be best if you… didn’t think of it.”

“Oh, really?” He asked nonchalantly. Maybe Snape was about to say something important regarding it…

“Yes, Potter. What is beyond that door does not concern you as a student of Hogwarts.” The man paused, and Harry internally cheered when the man put his wand away. “I want you back here at the same time next Tuesday. We will continue work then.”

“Right,” Harry said, reminding himself to remember. He was desperate to get back to the common room to his friends.

“You are to rid your mind of all emotion every night before sleeping; empty it, make it a blank canvas and at ease, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded, shuffling towards the door.

“But be warned, Potter, I shall know if you haven’t been practising that exercise.”

Barely listening, Harry gladly opened the office door and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room. When he entered, he was immediately told to be quiet, as once again the seventh years were getting some night-before revision in. The seventh years had a mock exam for Transfiguration tomorrow. He wanted to ask them how their Charm’s one went today, but figured he’d get his head bitten off if he even approached Angelina and co, so tiptoed over to his friends.

“Put a Silencing Charm up around us, will you?” Ron whispered as he sat down with them, “if they shush us one more time I think we might actually be yelled at…”

Harry did so, and tested its strength by speaking loudly. None of the seventh years even looked over at them, which meant they could now speak without having to be quiet.

“So, how was Occlumency?” Amelia asked.

“Terrible,” he replied, “Snape didn’t even teach me how to repel him from my mind at all, he just expected me to know how to do it. It was so annoying, he saw my good memories and the bad.”

“But did you manage to eventually keep him out, though?” Hermione practically demanded.

“Yeah, on all of the occasions. Though it took a Stinging Jinx, me screaming, and me falling to the floor to eventually get him out. My head now feels sore, like it's been dragged through a hedge backwards.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, at least,” Hermione said, putting her Arithmancy book down, “you’ve just gotta keep practising.”

He chuckled a bit, unsmiling. “In order to get better at Occlumency, someone’s got to be a Legilimens - to get into my head.”

Hermione realised. “Oh, yeah, so you do. Well, surely Snape told you some things to do yourself?”

“I have to clear my mind of everything before sleep every night, wipe it clean of thought essentially.” He explained. “There’s something else…”

He told them about the last memory he’d seen during their session - the one regarding that corridor at the Ministry, and what that room must’ve been. Even Hermione looked impressed, rather than skeptical, at his reasoning.

“So, are you saying that the weapon You-Know-Who’s after… is in the Ministry of Magic?” Dorea whispered.

“In the Department of Mysteries, it has to be,” Harry replied, “and that door at the end of that corridor leads directly to it. That’s where Mr Weasley was when he was attacked by the snake - the Department of Mysteries.”

“Just what is in there though?” Amelia asked, before turning to Ron, “Has your dad ever talked about it? Or mentioned it?”

Ron wracked his brain into action. “He did say once that they call the people that work in that Department ‘Unspeakables’, which probably means that the work they do is top secret.”

“That makes perfect sense for it to be there!” Hermione concluded, “The Unspeakables can’t talk about anything anyway, so it's a perfect place to store it!”

Harry once again started losing concentration - he deduced he really didn’t like Occlumency all that much. His head and scar were still both hurting like mad. He soon elected to retire to the dormitory, though Ron soon joined him. He reminded himself to clear his mind, though whenever he even thought of Occlumency, he thought of the dreaded Potions master and what he had said - calling Harry ‘weak’. He was determined to prove him wrong, but he wasn’t exactly progressing when he couldn’t even fade his anger correctly.

The rest of January passed at an alarming rate, and soon enough it rolled into February. Both groups of the DA were getting really good at duelling the dummies, and Harry reckoned one more session and he’d be able to let them start duelling one another. He had covered duelling tactics with the Senior group too - ones he had learned from Sirius mostly, such as sending more than one spell out and using your surroundings to your advantage. He planned to also go over defensive and protective spells and how to use them whilst duelling. He was happy that everyone seemed glad to be working at their own pace and ability, and working to better themselves. Neville he was most impressed with - the boy seemed really determined to master the art of duelling, and often than not he was the most focused and ferocious when duelling his magical dummy; he was so fast at casting and seemed to have his own tricks up his sleeve that the dummy was usually losing within a minute of the duel.

Everyone was really progressing well at Defence Against the Dark Arts, too. Remus had his work cut out trying to catch everyone up, but they were already on track to be done by Easter. Their Defence essay’s were quite hard work, as they were normally assigned to them on Monday’s, and Remus expected them to be handed in by the Friday Defence period, which was quite hard to do, but they all helped each other out. Harry actually had no clue what grade he was averaging at in the class, but he was sure that he was doing fine ever since Umbridge got sacked. 

  
  


On the morning of the fourteenth, Amelia woke up with butterflies in her stomach. Today, her and Theo were to spend their first Valentine’s Day together in Hogsmeade. They decided they were just going to go to the Three Broomsticks and have a nice lunch, along with a few rounds of Butterbeer. She was looking forward to spending time with her boy again; after all, even though she saw him plenty in classes and the DA, they didn’t really have time to spend with each other.

She got dressed into a simple sweatshirt and black jeans, and since it was still quite wintery out she wore her Gryffindor scarf and a cute bobble hat Penny had got her. Satisfied, she left the common room and walked down to the Entrance Hall, where hopefully Theo was already waiting for her.

Since it was midday, school was pretty deserted - students tended to go down straight after breakfast so they could go shopping, but neither of them were fussed in that regard, so they were leaving just before lunch. She wondered if Dean had managed to ask Seamus out… She really hoped he had. She knew that Dorea and Fred were spending the day together and had gone first thing.

Just before she came around the corner to go through to the Entrance Hall, she hung back momentarily when she overheard her boyfriend having a conversation with somebody.

“Theo, mate, you’re going soft.” Was the recognisable voice of Blaise Zabini.

“ _ Flowers,  _ Theo? You’re going to the Three Broomsticks on a Valentine’s date, not a fancy restaurant for your tenth wedding anniversary.” Was the chuckled agreement of Barnaby Lee.

“Come on, guys! Is the incantation ‘ _ Orchideous’  _ or ‘ _ Orchidea’? _ I can’t remember!” Was Theo’s response, sounding slightly worried.

Amelia couldn’t help but grin. Theo was going to conjure her a bouquet of flowers? That was pretty sweet. She felt bad that she didn’t really get him anything…. But then figured that she could just pay for their food and drinks - her money bag from Sirius was full to the brim.

That was another regard - Sirius and Remus. What if they came into the Three Broomsticks and saw them there together? Sirius would probably go mental, even if the establishment was full to the brim. Remus would be calmer, but still would feel confused or possibly protective. She decided there and then that she would keep a sharp eye out.

She decided to walk through, with Blaise and Barnaby seeing her first. They smiled at her, but they also nudged Theo, who just about whizzed around. He had managed to conjure up a bouquet after all. “Hey babe!” Theo greeted, awkwardly holding the flowers as she approached and they kissed on the cheek. “I, er, made you this.” He handed her the flowers.

“Theo, this is adorable!” She nearly squealed, though she’d been expecting it. They looked at one another in mutual grins. “Thank you, dear,” she said as she kissed his cheek again, which immediately went beet red, to the delight of Blaise and Barnaby.

“We’ll leave you two to it,” Barnaby said, smiling, as he and Blaise turned to leave.

“You take care of my boy, Amelia,” Blaise said in mock intimidation as he tried to glare but failed, miserably, “He’s fragile.”

They burst out laughing, to the chagrin and annoyance of Filch and Mrs Norris. Filch told them off and gruffed at them to either stay or go. Within minutes they were signed out and off they went, Blaise and Barnaby walking on ahead as the two lovebirds took it a more leisurely stroll down to Hogsmeade village.

“I don’t know if I said or not, but happy Valentine’s Day, my darling.” Theo said meaningfully.

“Thank you, dear, I’m glad we’re finally going on a date!” She replied, grinning like a schoolgirl. 

They talked about anything and everything - schoolwork, homework, teachers and personal lives. Mrs Nott had sent a note that morning to Theo, and he told her that apparently his mother had been to visit her sister and mother (Theo’s aunt and grandmother) a few times. He’d been quite worried about her doing that, as Mr Nott had been discharged from hospital for a good few weeks now, and he could easily just turned up at his aunt’s house and found Ophelia there. She hadn’t stayed too long, though, only forty minutes or so before going back to Black Manor. Amelia had an idea that maybe Ophelia’s mother and sister could have access to Black Manor via Floo, but reckoned she’d have to ask Sirius. 

They arrived at the Three Broomsticks and found a comfy booth near the back, tucked almost out of view. Madam Rosemerta soon popped by to see them catered to, and they ordered drinks and their lunch.

Just as they finished eating, she noticed Theo looking over her shoulder and towards the front of the inn. He leaned in closer. “Why is Harry there with Hermione? I thought he was meeting Cho Chang.”

“Cho?” Amelia asked in disbelief, almost snorting on her butterbeer. Her twin didn’t mention he was going on a date with one of the schools most popular students at all.

“Yeah, did he not tell you?” Theo looked puzzled.

“It’s news to me,” Amelia shrugged as she turned in her seat to spy on her brother. “I feel like I should go over…”

“You can if you want,” Theo said nonplussed, “so long as you don’t leave me looking like a loner for too long.”

She rolled her eyes and grinned, and the two of them gave each other a kiss on the lips for some reason. None of them complained though, and soon Amelia strode over to the table where Harry was sat at with Hermione and Luna.

“I thought you were supposedly on a date with Cho?” Amelia said as she sat down, giving her brother a slight fright.

“Oh, well… it was going good, but then I mentioned Cedric and it all fell apart.” Harry said awkwardly. “She starts crying over the tiniest mention of him, and expects me to have talked to her about him, and how he died and that.”

“The boy only died seven months ago, Harry,” Amelia said, “it’s not Cho’s fault she's upset.”

“Exactly!” Hermione piped up suddenly. “It seems people keep blaming her for being sad that Cedric is gone.”

Harry harrumphed. “I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just a bit weird to be crying on a date and that.”

“Where’s Theodore, Amelia? I thought you were on a date with him too?” Luna asked dreamily.

Amelia gestured to the back of the inn. “He’s over there, I just thought I’d pop by and ask why Harry was here, that’s all.”

They talked only a few minutes longer, and then Amelia got back to her table. Theo smiled brightly. “You’ve returned from war,” he joked.

“Yeah right,” she smiled as she sat back down, “Harry and Cho’s date was going good according to him, but he mentioned Cedric and she started getting emotional.”

Theo almost winced. “Rookie mistake.”

She eyed him. “As if you know the in’s and out’s of dating, Theo. I’m your first girlfriend!”

He barked laughter. “I’ve picked up a few niches I overheard from Blaise and Draco over the years. I think I’m a dating expert.”

They were just about to finish up and head back up to the castle when Theo seemed to freeze. Following his eyes, Amelia saw that Pansy, Millicent and their group of sixth and fourth year Slytherin girl friends had just sat down at one of the bigger tables.

“Pansy asked me on a date to Madam Puddifoot’s before Christmas,” he whispered to her.

Amelia felt a wave of jealousy. “How are we going to sneak past them?”

“Give me your hat or something, I’ll wear it and give it back to you when we get outside.” He suggested.

Amelia thought that the sight of Theo wearing a bobble hat would look very comical, but gave it to him anyway - neither of them wanted to make a scene in the middle of the Three Broomsticks if Pansy seen them together. Amelia got her Gryffindor scarf and tried to tie it around her head like a headscarf/hood sort of hybrid, and Theo brought the collar of his jacket around the lower half of his mouth to try and hide his face. Since they had already paid, they could leave without hindrance. They tried to leave as casually as possible, but still power walked to the front door.

They got out and breathed a sigh of relief. With that, Theo took her hat off his head and she unwinded her scarf.

They’d only managed to walk about ten feet from the front door of the Three Broomsticks when they heard a shrill voice call out, “Theo!”

They both froze, and gave each other a wide-eyed sideways glance. Theo looked around whilst Amelia stayed perfectly still. She realised her arm was still linked with his. “Oh… erm, hi Pansy.”

“Who is that girl that you’re with?” Pansy demanded. A few people were glancing over at them.

“None of your business,” was Theo’s response, and he urged them to keep on walking.

“Oi, wait!” Pansy shrieked.

Just as they started jogging, Amelia felt a tug on the back of her jacket, pulling her to an abrupt halt. She braced herself. Within a second, Pansy had spun her around and they were now face to face. Pansy Parkinson jumped back a bit, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. Amelia had half-expected the girl to start screaming and going berserk, but the girl for now just held a look of disbelief.

“Amelia Potter,” Pansy gritted at last, “ _ you’re  _ dating Theo?”

“Yes,” Amelia held her head up high, “I am.”

Pansy still held a look of contempt, and her nostrils were flaring quite significantly. The girl kept glancing between Amelia and Theo. She looked moments away from screaming her head off. “You’ve been with her all this time, Theo?” The girl asked through gritted teeth.

“Erm, yeah.” Was Theo’s answer.

Pansy sighed heavily. “Good thing I didn’t waste that voucher on you after all.” was the girls last words to them as she stomped moodily back to the Three Broomsticks.

“What was that about? I thought she liked Draco.” Amelia laughed slightly.

“Me too, but even that predicament seems to change daily. Next week it will be Crabbe, I bet, that she has the hots for.” Theo responded.

With that, the two of them walked leisurely back up to Hogwarts, concluding a fab Valentine’s Day spent together. Since nobody else was in their vicinity, they shared a few kisses on their way back up the path, gloved hands fitting in one anothers near perfectly.

When they got back into the Entrance Hall, Filch signed them back in begrudgingly and the two of them collectively decided to go to the Room of Requirement to work on duelling. On the way there, they got a shock when they came across Daphne Greengrass and Anthony Goldstein coming back from the library together. She mouthed some banter at Daphne, who flushed so hard her face was a total contrast to her pale hair.

“Who would have thought they’d be a couple, eh?” Theo voiced once they were out of that corridor.

“Surely you would have known? I thought you were friends with Anthony too,” she asked.

“I am, but he kept that quiet. Seems he’s got more balls than Neville, though.”

She perked up at that. “What do you mean?”

Theo pursed his lips together, as if contemplating. “He has a crush on a certain Hufflepuff girl,”

“Theo! Tell me more!” She near shrieked, desperate to know.

“What will it take for me to tell you?” Her boyfriend smirked cheekily.

“A snog.” She instantly said,

He perked up. “Ooh, I’ve been waiting for that one.”

With that, they made sure the corridor was completely empty before upgrading their usual kisses to full-blown snogs. Perfect way to end their first Valentine’s, after all.

They were only snogging for half a minute, though they were really getting into it. They’d long since forgotten to take into account that anyone could walk on to the corridor and see them snogging their faces off. That would prove very costly to them - as the only thing that brought their attention back down to earth was a voice amos bellowing, “ _ Amelia! Theodore!” _

Instantly detaching their lips from one another, they looked with sheer horror, as standing at the end of the corridor, gaping at them and red in the face, was none other than Remus and Sirius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh, I am so evil for ending it there. It's fair to say that Remus and Sirius are not going to be jumping for joy.
> 
> Also, the mock-exam thing that I have the seventh years doing is my own little invention - in my country we have the same thing in January where we sit mock or preliminary exams that are similar to the official ones we do at the end of the year to gage how well we might do. 
> 
> And finally, even though I've written Pansy to be quite similar to canon, in later chapters I plan to write her more. I actually really like Pansy as a character lol and I might change her personality slightly; meaning she might not be a bully forever.


	25. Rita Skeeter's Downfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Sirius comes to terms with everything, and more schoolwork commences

Amelia had never been more mortified in her entire life.

Staring at her and Theodore together were none other than her godfather and honorary uncle - who, for want of a better word, were simply livid. The two people she had been keeping her relationship a secret from had just caught her and Theo snogging.

The two men were varying shades of red. Sirius was gripping his knuckles and Remus was clearly trying to calm himself down. Not quite knowing what to do, Amelia just looked at her boyfriend, wondering what on earth was in store for them.

When Remus eventually came back down to earth, he all but demanded the two of them to come to his office. Sensing impending doom, they did as he bid, Sirius walking behind them.

Remus all but bashed the door down as he entered. He gestured for them to sit as he drew two chairs up. He and Sirius remained standing in front of them. Amelia was that nervous you would have thought they were being expelled.

“Right,” Remus started, trying his hardest not to snap or explode, “how long have you two been dating?”

Theo and Amelia looked to each other, obviously wondering who was going to answer for them. Theo decided to. “S-since j-just before Christmas, sir.”

Sirius let out a yelp, and Remus flinched back and twitched. “You mean to tell me you’ve been dating each other for almost two months?”

Both feeling very sheepish, the young couple nodded, both of their faces looking down.

“You what?” Sirius shrieked.

It was silent again, the two men once again refraining themselves from strangling Theo. _Well, at least we ended Valentine’s Day with a bang,_ Amelia thought half ruefully.

Sirius took a deep breath and faced them again. “To think we’ve been housing you, Theo…”

Amelia’s boyfriend gulped audibly, and she’d never seen him look so wide-eyed. Her godfather looked simply livid, and Remus, though he was calming down, still looked fuming. “I’ll say this and only this-” Sirius started up again.

“-Sirius” Remus cut in, knowing his friend was probably about to start either a long lecture or start threatening.

“-If you lay a single hand on Amelia, Theodore, it will be the last time you’ll have that hand. Understood?” Sirius continued, through gritted teeth as the six-feet tall man loomed in front of Theo.

“I understand.” Theo answered weakly.

What followed next was a four minute rant made by Sirius and directed entirely at poor Theo. It was all mostly empty threats and how he’d be keeping an eye on them and that - to make sure that they “did nothing more than kissing”. Remus even interrupted a few times when Sirius’s ‘propositions’ were too silly sounding. When all that was said and done, everyone was glad it was finally over with. They were finally allowed to go on their way again. Theo looked scarred for life, and Amelia was halfway there as well.

* * *

When the two young lovebirds went on their way out of his office, Remus rounded on Sirius. “Right, that was a bit extreme from you, Sirius.”

“ _Extreme?!”_ His best friend replied dumbfounded. “My goddaughter has a boyfriend, Remus, and has been all this time since December! They kept that from me!”

“And rightly so, seeing you acted like her actual father!” Remus countered, though he couldn’t help but smile. He’d tried so hard not to laugh whilst Sirius was ranting to Theodore. 

“And to make matters worse, we stumble upon them snogging in the corridor! Munching each other's faces off! Who knows what else they were planning on doing-”

“-That’s enough, Sirius.” Remus cut him off firmly, “They’re both very sensible young people.”

“Sensible? _Sensible!”_ Sirius shrieked, “I don’t think you can call snogging sensible!”

Remus face palmed. He couldn’t help it - Sirius was being so dramatic. Though he was also protective of Amelia Potter, she was a teenager; plenty of teenagers dated at her age, it was only natural. So long as they were going well about it, he concluded he had no problem with Amelia dating Theo Nott - he even thought they were quite well suited…

“We have to tell Ophelia that her son was caught with Amelia,” Sirius said.

“She’ll be delighted,” Remus smirked, and Sirius glared at him.

“It’s not funny!”

“I’m not laughing!” 

Sirius huffed and puffed some more. Remus stood up. “Sirius, will you bloody breathe and hear yourself think?”

Padfoot sent him a filthy look before he slumped back down into one of the chairs Theo had sat on previously. The man elected to stare down at his feet like a scorned child. “I know that you’re going crazy over the fact that your ward has a boyfriend, but please, you can’t force yourself between them. Trust me, if you do that it’s only going to end in foul moods all around. Leaving them to their own devices is the best course of action.”

Sirius was about to protest, but Remus continued speaking before he could even speak. “If there were any problems to arise in their relationship, you have to make sure that Amelia would trust you enough in order to speak to you about those potential problems. If she doesn’t, she would keep it very much bottled up and to herself; like her brother, and she’d just feel worse. If she was ever to console within you in the state you’re in right now, you’d go batshit crazy and hex Theo into the next century. That would only end in disaster.”

Sirius sighed, and was quiet for a few moments. He was clearly seeing sense in what Remus had just told him. “It’s just… I don’t want her getting hurt.”

“That’s only natural, I feel the same.” Remus replied.

“I know she can take care of herself, but it’s just… strange. I feel like I’ve got to protect her from everyone. James would have done the same.”

Remus’s heart panged hearing his deceased best friend's name being spoken again, but he soon chuckled when an image of James acting like a stereotypical protective father whilst intimidating Theo came into his head. “Yeah, he would have - probably more extreme than you.”

Sirius barked laughter. “Amelia was his precious princess. He didn’t even let baby Neville near her, remember?”

It was Remus’s turn to laugh. “You were the same with Dorea. Lily, Alice and Marlene found it hilarious.”

The two men chuckled, clearly calmed down from their previous states, and were instead thinking back to happier times. They continued talking, when Remus brought up another valid point. “You’re going to have to inevitably do the same for Dorea, you know.”

Sirius whipped his head around. “Pardon?”

 _Oh this’ll be good,_ Remus thought. “Your own daughter will no doubt start dating soon, Padfoot.”

Sirius looked mortified. “Not if I can help it.”

“Oh come on,” Remus threw his hands up, “if Harry starts dating girls I very much doubt you’d stop him. It can’t be one rule for him and a different one for the girls.”

“That’s not fair!” Sirius protested avidly. “Boy’s are less likely to get taken advantage of.”

Remus sighed. “That’s not true. Remember Cruella Bulstrode in our year? She dated boys and leeched them of whatever they had; popularity, money, a good family name… She dated and dumped boys like a normal person changes socks.”

A harrumph came from Sirius Black. He was clearly getting tired of this conversation and wanted it to end abruptly and as soon as possible. 

* * *

Back in Gryffindor common room, Dorea, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat sprawled out on the couches. Valentine’s Day was practically over and done with for another year (though it wasn’t even dinner time yet, the festivities in Hogsmeade were long done). She had a great day spent almost entirely in Fred’s company, where they first went shopping in Hogsmeade and had a lovely lunch in the Three Broomsticks. She hadn’t seen Amelia and Theo there, but she expected they were either in the upstairs bit or tucked away in one of the many booths. She’d learned how Harry’s date with Cho went, and felt disappointed but hoped they would have no hard feelings for each other.

She was sitting discussing the upcoming Hufflepuff vs Slytherin Quidditch game that was being played on Saturday when she saw Amelia walking through the portrait hole, looking very much wide-eyed. Her godsister said nothing as she sat down next to them.

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked.

It took Amelia a few moments to answer, but when she did, she looked straight at Dorea and said, “Sirius and Remus found out that me and Theo are dating.”

The five of them were silent for a few moments, and all shared a look of horror. “Uh oh…” Was all Dorea could really say to that.

“How did they find out? And how did they take it?” Harry asked.

Amelia gulped. “They caught us snogging in an upstairs corridor. Sirius was livid; Remus was too but he was soon pretty calm and seemed fine with it.”

Ron let out a low whistle. “I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall when that all went down.”

“Sirius proceeded to give Theo a lecture about how he needs to respect me at all times and treat me properly like a good young aristocratic gentleman. Even I felt terrified.” Amelia continued. Dorea listened avidly; she knew her father was very protective of her, Harry and Amelia, but she didn’t realise the extent of it. She didn’t envy Theo at all - being on the end of her father’s rant which was probably laced with threats.

That got her thinking… If her dad was to ever stumble across her and Fred kissing… all hell would be raised, probably, and Fred would be cursed into the next generation. She shivered just thinking about it. _He cannot find out,_ she thought, _especially not within the next few days or so._ She reckoned Sirius would need a lot of time to get used to the idea of Theo and Amelia dating, he would probably need a full few months before he could start contemplating her and Fred. She decided to always keep her wits about her, lest her six feet tall, very scary dad throttle poor Fred.

* * *

That Saturday, the Hufflepuff vs Slytherin Quidditch game was upon them. Though Dorea wasn’t even playing, she felt that this game would be scintillating to watch: after all, there was a lot at stake - if Slytherin won, they would go into second place in the Quidditch Cup standings and be right behind Gryffindor, however if Hufflepuff won today they would comfortably move into third. Ravenclaw were playing Slytherin next month, and Gryffindor were to play Hufflepuff as well at the start of April. Then all roads lead to the Quidditch Cup final, where the teams in first and second battled it out to win.

That morning, she sat with her Hufflepuff friends, though they were soon joined by Daphne and co. Megan was looking a bit uneasy, which was a bit unusual, as she always looked forward to playing. They were a bit worried when Megan declared she was going to go to the Hospital Wing; but she was soon back. Turns out, she had to be prescribed a Cramp-Easing Concoction - due to the fact she could tell her period cramps were starting. _Good thing she’s taking it before the match,_ Dorea thought, _would have been a disaster if she couldn’t play._

The weather was slightly gusty yet cloudy, yet most people were wrapped up warm - after all, it was February, and in Scotland you could literally experience all four seasons within a day. She couldn’t help but get an adrenaline rush as both of the teams walked out onto the pitch. The two captains, Cadwallader and Montague, shook hands (though they looked like they were trying to amputate each other), and soon enough they took to the air. Madam Hooch blew the whistle, threw the quaffle in the air, and the match commenced.

Montague had won the aerial battle for the quaffle, and soon burst forward to instantly try and make it towards Hufflepuff’s end. However, he soon ran into a wall; well, a hypothetical wall that consisted of Cadwallader and Zacharias Smith, who stopped him in his tracks. There was a bit of a scuffle as Montague tried to get past them, but not that much confrontation to warrant a foul or a penalty. Pucey and Warrington were soon screaming at Montague to pass the ball to either of them since he wasn’t getting anywhere anytime soon, and the Slytherin Captain launched the quaffle… which was promptly caught by the third Hufflepuff Chaser, Bradley. Bradley soon made a mad dash towards Slytherin’s end, though Warrington was now hot on his heels, desperate to stop him. Just as Bradley was about to launch it, Crabbe hit a Bludger, which whacked off the end of Bradley’s broom and caused him to spin almost uncontrollably and lose grip of the quaffle. Hooch only gave Crabbe a warning, since the bludger hadn’t caused Bradley to lose balance.

Megan and Wayne, she concluded, were simply an unreal Beater duo. The two of them worked together very well, and were always not too far away from the action and thick of things. Despite the fact that Megan was the only girl on the pitch, she was performing very well against her male counterparts. Zach was a good Chaser too, but he seemed to always be frustrated, though he was competitive too.

Soon enough, scoring commenced, with Slytherin drawing first blood. Zacharias shrieked bloody murder at Hufflepuff’s Keeper, though he was soon stopped by Madam Hooch. Hufflepuff soon got into a good rhythm though, despite the fact that Slytherin kept blocking them every few seconds. Within half an hour, the score was Hufflepuff 20-40 Slytherin.

Summerby and Malfoy were also zooming around the pitch, hunting the snitch. Summerby was almost too big to be a Seeker - he almost resembled a Beater, for he was pure strength rather than nimbleness. Draco, she hated to admit it, was the better Seeker by far.

An hour into play and it was only getting more brutal. Warrington had been subbed off, injured, after Zacharias barreled into him whilst performing a tackle. The Reserve Chaser called up was none other than Blaise. She was looking forward to watching him play, for she’d never seen him do so before.

Cadwallader and Montague were also getting very provocative towards one another. Hooch even gave a penalty to Hufflepuff when Montague barged into Cadwallader for no apparent reason, which caused the Hufflepuff Captain to dangle from his broom for a few seconds as he lost his seat. The crowd gasped and held its breath as Cadwallader scrambled onto his broom again. Bradley managed to score the penalty shot, making Hufflepuff right behind Slytherin now. _Come on Summerby,_ she thought, _catch the Snitch before Malfoy does…_

All throughout the match the two Seeker’s had been engaged in multiple races to the Golden Snitch, yet it ended fruitlessly as the tiny golden ball always darted off in another direction, causing their hunt to continue.

More foul play ensued - mostly coming from Crabbe and Goyle. The two of them both whacked a Bludger at Megan: big mistake. Megan rounded on both of them and started screeching, which was hilarious as the two Slytherin goons, who always liked to pretend how they were so intimidating, were hurriedly flying away from the raging Megan Jones, almost like animals with their tails between their legs. Wayne was soon their unsuspecting next victim, as they sent a Bludger in his direction instead which whacked off his foot. Everyone seemed to wince at that. Madam Hooch was so fed up she even stopped play for a few moments to sternly remind Crabbe and Goyle to play responsibly and fairly, and that if they did it again they’d be getting sent off. 

When play resumed, a small shower of rain graced the grounds of Hogwarts, but virtually nobody was put off - for Quidditch was played in all weathers. She couldn’t help but cheer when Blaise started putting a few goals in; he was her friend after all. “He’s really quite stylish!” Hermione said from next to her, though she had to strain to hear her.

The game raged on for yet another half an hour: goals being scored left right and centre on both sides. The rain was getting a bit heavier, and Dorea thought she heard a rumble of thunder in the distance but couldn’t be too sure - the stands were packed and you could barely hear yourself think.

Everyone braced themselves when Summerby and Malfoy were engaged in yet another race towards the Snitch. It was hard to see exactly where it was in the rain, but judging by the way both boys kept reaching out for it in desperation, she assumed it was mere feet in front of them. The match was well and truly ended when Summerby thrust his hand up in the air, Snitch clearly in hand. The crowd went wild.

“Hufflepuff have saved themselves from being joint-last! What a battle that was between Summerby and Malfoy! Final score: Slytherin 320-470 Hufflepuff!” Lee Jordan said excitedly on the commentating microphone. The stands were almost rocking back and forth, there was that much excitement. 

She joined her friends in going down onto the pitch and congratulating the Hufflepuff team. Megan and Wayne looked very damp and worn out, yet were very satisfied. Zacharias just nodded unsmiling when they told him congratulations. 

* * *

The Slytherin common room that evening was very on-edge. Due to Summerby finally catching the Golden Snitch, Slytherin were now only a very tight second place; Hufflepuff’s score had pushed them right up the table. Professor Snape had been a bit livid that the team had lost, however he at least understood there wasn’t much else Draco could have done.

“Summerby’s a cheat, I just know he is!” Draco Malfoy proclaimed in the common room that night. He was the ringleader of the Slytherin’s all sat around the table near the fireplace, discussing every minute of the match. “There’s no way his Cleansweep beat my Nimbus 2001!”

Theo was neither happy nor disappointed that they lost - they were still in good standings Cup wise, so he was sure the team wouldn’t be disheartened for too long. He sat with Blaise over at another table; since they no longer got on with Crabbe or Goyle. 

“Zacharias Smith needs to be banned,” Cassius Warrington had added his voice to the discussion. The boy was clutching a bruised shoulder. “He could have sent me plummeting to the ground very easily.”

“Their Keeper sure left a lot to be desired.” Graham Montague said in something of a sly tone, causing the circle of people to chuckle.

“Did you hear that stupid Megan girl?” Millicent Bulstrode piped up, looking to Crabbe and Goyle, “why was she screaming at you two?

“She kicked off because we sent a Bludger towards her. Big deal.” Goyle said in mockery. 

“Yeah, must be on the rag.” Crabbe nodded, causing Millicent, Pansy and their gaggle of girl friends to giggle.

Daphne and Tracey soon meandered over to sit with Theo and Blaise. “They do realise we can hear them, right?” Tracey said quietly as they sat down.

Blaise had chuckled. “Leave them to it, I say. I suppose if we listen, it’ll give us good gossip.”

After a few moments, the four of them got their Astronomy work out, as they had it on Monday and there was homework due for that day. They were comparing where they had plotted Uranus on their star charts when they overheard some more talking from over at the main table.

“When do we play Ravenclaw anyway?” Adrian Pucey had asked loudly.

“March 23rd.” Montague answered.

“Should be an easy match - for me, anyway. Chang still rides a Comet Two-Ninety and has the audacity to think she’ll be able to win the match.” Draco spoke. Pansy giggled.

“Comet Two-Ninety’s?” Millicient had shrieked in a slight fit of laughter. “They’re almost older than all of us!”

“If Chang ever wants to be taken seriously she needs a new broom, for starters.” Bletchley snickered.

“Silly cow that she is,” Pansy muttered, “it’s like she wants Ravenclaw to lose!”

“Since when was money the answer to every success?” Daphne whispered so that only the four of them could hear. Tracey chuckled.

Adrian Pucey’s posh accent was soon heard once again. “I don’t know about you, but I found it pretty hot when Megan Jones was angry.”

“Adrian!” some random sixth year girl exclaimed in something akin to disbelief. 

“Pucey, mate, her family are blood-traitors!” Crabbe said in slight disgust.

“That may be so,” Pucey just shrugged, “but she is a nice thing to look at nonetheless. I’d totally-”

Theo couldn’t make out the rest. Just so - he knew that Adrian Pucey had a slight old-fashioned outlook on life, and that included the female population. He guessed that Pucey had either just objectified Megan in some way or commented how... hot and bothered he’d gotten looking at her during the match. That seemed to be so, as Warrington made a likewise comment regarding both Cho Chang and Skye Parkin. “Creeps.” Was all Theo muttered. _If they even mention Amelia in their little discussion…_ Theo would go rampant on them, totally flip, if they talked about his girlfriend in a derogatory way.

“Totally.” Daphne agreed. “We best warn all the female Quidditch players in school that certain ponces might be chatting them up in the future.”

Trying to get back to work, all Theo could bloody hear was multiple people saying things such as:  
“Awww come on mate, she’s minging!”

“ _Angelina Johnson_? Really, Draco?”

“I’ll bet you ten Galleons that I can ask Megan Jones out.”

* * *

On Monday morning, there seemed to be a bit of a flurry at breakfast. Harry wondered just why: bt then was greeted to the best possible headline on the front of Hermione’s _Daily Prophet:_

_“_ **_DAILY PROPHET OVERHAUL - EDITORS AND REPORTERS SACKED AS MINISTER BONES DELIVERS PROMISE OF NEWSPAPER TAKEDOWN”_ **

Susan had been telling the truth; her aunt truly was going through with the idea of sacking Rita Skeeter and all her cronies. Harry felt elated; he could probably now read that newspaper and not have to worry about his name being sneaked in somewhere - which meant the smear campaign against him was well and truly quashed. Doing further reading, a whole lot of people had been sacked or fired - everyone from the Political Editor’s to Culture Correspondence. 

“Finally!” Ron had exclaimed when he finally came down and read it.

“She’s had it coming a long time,” Hermione looked victorious.

Harry had a thought. “Where’s Madam Bones going to get all these new employees from?”

Amelia looked up. “Well, all they have to be is decent and report real news, so surely that won’t be too difficult to find.”

He supposed that was true. Still, he couldn’t get over how delighted he felt looking at the photograph of Rita Skeeter getting sacked, which was adorning half the front page. Her hair, usually so perfectly curled and cropped short, looked a straggly mess. The woman’s makeup was streaming down her face as well, clearly upset over losing her job. 

* * *

That school week passed in much the same fashion; Harry had his Occlumency lesson on Tuesday, which had gone absolutely terribly. Snape had barked at him, claiming he knew fine well that Harry hadn’t been clearing his mind before sleep every night. Madam Pomfrey’s Healing lessons, held every fortnight, were also progressing at a good rate. They now could all heal bruises, cuts, aches and pains, so they moved on to cover how to diagnose both internal and external problems. That was quite easy, as there was already a quite advanced diagnostic spell in circulation, yet they all gave it a good go and it was very straightforward. The Junior DA were progressing very nicely; though the first and second years were taking a bit longer in regards to duelling dummies, they were getting the hang of it very quickly. 

The one subject he was beginning to fall a bit behind in was Arithmancy - he almost regretted taking it. Professor Vector was a brilliant teacher and all, but he just wasn’t understanding the content as well as he should be at this stage. He made a mental note to enlist the help of either Susan or Anthony at some point - Susan had really helped him out with the previous topic, and Anthony was… well, Anthony Goldstein was something of a whizz kid.

During the morning interval on Thursday, he had in fact decided to just ask Anthony, as Harry had just had double Arithmancy and was more stumped than ever. His Ravenclaw friend agreed to help him avidly. “We could go to the Room of Requirement this weekend before DA?” The boy had suggested,

“That would be great!” Harry nodded. “I still do not understand why Personality Number’s are hurting my head so much.”

Anthony chuckled, “It’s actually not that bad, I have a really good method I use to go about it. I’ll show it to you on Saturday.”

Looking forward to that, he went to Charms in a far better mood, knowing he was now going to get some help with that regard. When the bell for lunch rang, he felt optimistic for his upcoming study session with his brainy friend - he really hoped he was going to get Arithmancy nailed down.

* * *

Dorea entered the Room and made a beeline for the two clocks. She set the Room or Requirement time to its usual half of the actual time, and took a seat. She never really liked messing about with time, especially since she knew just how severe the consequences were if she somehow went back in time and changed events, but McGonagall ensured her that no matter how much time she spent in the Room, as long as the timer was set at a quarter, she could spend as much time in there as she so wished.  
She picked up the heavy book on wand lore and once she located the bookmark she used, carried on from where she left off from the last time. Dorea never got tired learning about all the little details involved with wands, and occasionally took her own out of her robe and just stared at it admiringly.  
She even loved the chapter on the wand core, and how there were so many different cores used out there, not just your traditional dragon heartstring and unicorn tail hairs. The most powerful wand in existence - The Elder Wand, had a Thestral tail hair core, which Dorea smiled at, imagining a wand maker who had not witnessed death trying to extract one. A wizard called Cadogan once had a wand which contained a troll's whisker as its core - Dorea couldn't understand how that would make a wand powerful, as troll's were lumbering and lazy but strong. The great Salazar Slytherin even had a Basilisk horn for his core - now that sounded deadly.

  
After reading an interesting paragraph on kneazle whiskers and Kelpie hair being used as cores, Dorea heard the door open, and Harry entered.  
"Hey, Dorea, thought I'd find you here." He grinned at her.  
"You know me so well, my dear godbrother." Dorea smiled back.  
"What's that you're reading?" Harry came over and sat next to her.  
"A book on wand lore." Dorea showed him the cover.  
"Is it interesting? I've never really thought of reading up about wands."  
"To me it is, yeah." Dorea then ranted. "I just find it fascinating how no wand is the same. Every wizard has their own distinctive wand, and that just makes me want to learn so much more about the things, y'know what I mean?"  
Harry laughed. "You look so much like Sirius when you rant about things you like."  
"Speaking of Dad, where is he anyway?"  
"He had lunch and then went back up to his living quarters. He probably has a class to prepare for." Harry then yawned.  
"How are you so tired?" Dorea chuckled.  
"I think my workload is taking a toll on me," Harry really did look tired. "The teachers just give us homework practically everyday, not realising we're already jam-packed with it as we are, and some of us have other things to be doing. I wish they'd calm down. It's only February, our exams aren't till June."  
"I think this room also messes with your sleeping pattern," Dorea pondered. "I'm always knackered when I spend hours in here with the clock set working through all my work and revising, but then obviously I know that outside the Room, time is normal, which messes with me, as I then go to classes and dinner half-asleep."  
"Yeah, me and Amelia have both noticed that too. Maybe we need to restrict how many times we come in here? It may do us and our concentration levels the world of good." Harry said.  
Dorea nodded. "What have we got after lunch?"  
"Defence, and then double Potions. It feels so weird that I'm excited for Potions now. Spending part of the summer actually teaching myself it rather than the greasy gits laughable way of teaching has made me realise that I am good at it." Harry answered.  
"Amen to that," Dorea replied. "It's always a laugh seeing the git's face when we do our potions perfectly - he can't believe it, and he doesn't know how it's possible."  
"Oh god, that reminds me, DA tomorrow night."  
"How did you almost forget?! You're our leader for crying out loud!" Dorea burst out laughing.  
"Thank Merlin I did remember, or else everyone would turn up and wonder where I am and then rip my head off the next day." Harry laughed.  
"What have you got planned? Anything new?"  
"I'm wanting all of us to focus more on the casting of the spells, and our reaction speeds, so I might have us do little mock-duels starting with minor jinxes and charms to get us going." Harry explained.  
"Oh I'm so going to duel you and Amelia, I'll beat you both." Dorea joked.  
"Hey, I'm the one who duelled Voldemort! You have no chance!" Harry laughed, and in that moment Dorea felt a real sibling love for Harry - they actually felt like proper brother and sister.

  
Dorea then looked over at the clocks, and realised that they had ten minutes before the bell rang to signal that they would have to head to Defence fifth period.  
"Will we just go now and find Amelia, Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked. Dorea nodded, and marked the page she was on in the wand lore book, got her bag and stood up. She stopped the timer and then walked out the Room with Harry.  
They coincidentally ran into the other 3 on the staircase, along with Daphne, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Dorea couldn't help but grin at the inter-house unity - it all wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for her and her god siblings.  
"Hey guys!" She called them. The group smiled at them all.  
"Oh Dorea, you ought to know, Blaise was eyeing you up like mad in Charms." Daphne grinned and linked arms with her. She had grown close to the oldest Greengrass sister.  
"He's always staring at me, I sometimes feel as if he's staring into my soul." She replied, giggling.

During Defence, Remus had them doing revision of Dark creatures. He had brought along live demonstrations as well; he had a small tank filled with a snake, another one containing a Ghoul, and a final one with a Pixie inside it. For once, that period was spent mostly writing, though they did have time at the end to start discussing how to deal with each creature. Remus declared that their homework task - for tomorrow, was to research how to deal with the creatures and how to dispose of them in the safest way possible. Dorea didn’t think that would be too hard - she recalled seeing somewhere in the textbook a section on everything regarding Dark creatures, so hoped there would be some information there. Sooner than they liked, fifth period was over and done with, and to finish the day they had double Potion’s.

  
The group talked amongst themselves as they made their way to the dungeon classroom and waited outside of it, talking about anything and everything. Dorea, Amelia and Daphne were talking about the latest Muggle Studies essay Professor Burbage had set for tomorrow when the other members of the class appeared - most notably Pansy Parkinson and her gang.  
"Oh God, not her," Daphne grimaced and turned away so that she wasn't facing Pansy any longer.  
"What is it? I thought you were quite friendly with her." Amelia asked in a hushed voice, as Millicent Bulstrode was giving their group a look.  
"Not anymore, I got to the girls dorm last night and they were all gathered on Pansy's bed, but they stopped talking when I entered. I thought nothing of it, and went to join them, but that cow Millicent virtually told me to fuck off." Daphne whispered.  
Dorea was shocked. "How dare she!"  
Hermione also shot a very nasty glare in the direction of Parkinson and her gang.  
"I then asked them what the hell was up, and Pansy goes off her head at me - calling me a Slytherin traitor and how I should just move in with the Gryffindor's. I asked her why the hell it was such a problem that I was making friends amongst the other 3 houses and all she could come up with was that it was an embarrassment and disgrace. I just put up an invisible barrier around my bed so that they couldn't sabotage me, pulled the curtains around me and stayed there the whole night."  
"There's a space at our table, you can come to our bench if you want?" Hermione offered.  
Daphne Greengrass looked as though she could kiss Hermione. "Oh Merlin, thanks so much for that, Hermione, I would have thrown myself off the Astronomy tower if you hadn't. There's no way I'm sitting with them."  
It was then that the classroom door opened, and Professor Snape told them to enter. The girls went to their table, whilst Harry and the boys went to the one directly opposite. Daphne gladly settled down into the seat beside Hermione.

  
Snape was about to explain that day's lesson, when he noticed that Daphne was not sitting in her usual spot. "Miss Greengrass, why are you not seated in your normal seat?"  
Daphne was about to answer, but Pansy got there first. "She's not one of us anymore. She's not welcome."  
Dorea was mortified on Daphne's behalf that Parkinson had said that out loud, embarrassing her in front of the whole O.W.L class. Snape looked between the Slytherin girls and Daphne as if he was watching a tennis rally, before simply saying "very well."  
Dorea couldn't help but smirk at Harry and Amelia when Snape said that in the lesson they were to make an Invigoration Draught again, a potion they were very familiar with as they had brewed it countless times over the summer. Snape projected the ingredients and instructions on the board before telling them to get started.  
She didn't even have to look at the instructions. Well, she did occasionally just for reminders, but that was it. Soon, her potion was at a simmering stage, whilst everyone else's bar Harry and Amelia's were still having ingredients added to them.

  
Snape was making his way around the classroom, starting off at his dear beloved Slytherin's. Dorea grinned when she saw that Pansy's potion was overflowing and letting off a stench, but glared when Snape didn't even bat an eyelid, and muttered something to his wand which fixed her potion. Millicent Bulstrode ladled some of hers up, to see what on earth was going on with it, and hers had the consistency of a mixture of porridge and cement. Snape didn't seem to mind, however, and fixed hers as well. _If that was a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff's potion, he'd be giving them two weeks detention._ Dorea thought with contempt.  
Snape eventually wandered over to their desk, where Hermione had just sat down as hers was now at the simmering stage.  
"Why are all you girls sitting down?" Snape asked.  
"We're waiting for it to simmer, sir." Daphne answered, as if it was the most obvious answer ever.  
"And what if it starts sprouting flames?" Snape hissed.  
"It won't, as we've clearly done everything correctly thus far." Dorea answered.  
"I will have no cheek from you, Miss Black, five points from Gryffindor." Snape snapped. Dorea glared at him when he finally turned away and headed to Malfoy's desk.  
"That was so unfair!" Amelia whispered. "Look, Crabbe's been sat down ever since the first step, but watch, Greasy Git won't say anything to him."  
"Millicent's potion looked like something you would never feed a dog, and yet he fixed it for her. If that was Neville's he'd embarrass him in front of the class." Hermione also said in a hushed voice.  
Neville, who was seated back-to-back with Dorea, then turned to whisper. "Mines is going really well," he seemed very pleased. "Harry just quietly tells me what to do and it all works. Snape can't believe that a potion is actually working for me for once in my life, he took five points off me though."  
"He took five points from me just for saying the truth." Dorea shrugged. They stopped talking then, as Snape had finished his round of the class and was now standing at his desk facing them all.  
"Your potions should come off the heat in five minutes, as they take ten minutes to cool down before they can be bottled. There is twenty five minutes left of this class, and make it count." Snape called out.  
Doing a quick survey, everyone was either standing or sat waiting for their potion to simmer. Seamus had seemed to battle his way through his potion and not get his head blown up once, and Dean was looking very relaxed. None looked as chilled out as Harry, though.

  
At the desk in front of her, Blaise Zabini turned around and caught her eye. He pretended that he was going to put some spare ingredients back, but then he stopped by.  
"Yours looks good." He grinned.  
She couldn't help but blush slightly. "Thanks. How is yours looking?"  
"As good as it can be at this stage. Oh, Granger, turn your cauldron heat up to 4, I find it simmers it better. Consistency becomes smoother, y'know. Less residue as well." Blaise casually offered. Hermione looked mildly surprised.  
"Thanks for that advice, Blaise." Hermione gave him a small smile.  
"No problemo." He just shrugged.  
Dorea felt a bit of pride swell within her then. At the start of this school year, Blaise Zabini wouldn't even think of making eye contact with muggleborns, but now he seemed very chilled out talking to whoever he wanted. She continually told Harry how great the Defence Association was, but she realised she had to thank him for all the friendships he had helped create too.  
"I better get back, or else poor Theo will be lost and the lab will go up in flames." He whispered, before casually walking back to his station, a spring in his step.  
Daphne grinned at her. "He fancies you."  
"I know, Daph, all too well."  
She just laughed. "I think he forgets you have a boyfriend at times, he seems to think that he does go out with you."  
"Your cauldrons should come off the heat now. Any later and the consequences may be disastrous." Snape all but snarled from the front of the room.  
Everyone's cauldrons now off the heat, they started to tidy up. Dorea reached down and pulled her bag up from the floor, placing her scales and potions textbook into it. She then got a flask and cork ready so that she could just ladle her potion into it.

  
When the whole class had ladled their potion into the tubes, put their names on it and placed them on Snape's desk, the man looked very riddled about something.  
"That was quite a difficult and fiddly potion you all just concocted, and for that reason there's a likely chance it will come up in your practical O.W.L exam. I will mark your potions based on the marking procedures for O.W.L Potions." He then paused. "Could the Gryffindor's in this class please remain behind when the bell goes? There's something I need to speak to you all about."  
The Gryffindor's then all exchanged looks. Why were they getting held back but the Slytherin's weren’t?  
When the bell rang, Daphne left their table and said she would keep seats for them at the Slytherin table, which they nodded at. Once Snape was certain that everyone bar the Gryffindor's had left, he rounded on them.  
"So, I have growing concerns about some members of this class." He walked amongst them. "Longbottom, how is it that you've improved oh so rapidly in this class? You've gone from Dreadful's to Poor's, Poor's to Acceptable's, and I have a feeling that the potion you've just sampled for me will reluctantly be getting an Exceeds Expectations. Sooner or later you might just get an Outstanding. _How have you done it?_ " Snape demanded. Poor Neville looked frightened for his life.  
"Erm, my Nan gave me a few Potions books at Christmas. Erm, well, she gave me books for mostly all my subjects, bar Herbology-"  
"-Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that by reading a book, you've gone from almost no marks to good marks?" Snape snapped.  
"W-well, I do take time to properly read the instructions and-"  
"-And what about you, Saint Potter?" Snape then rounded on Harry, who gulped. Amelia tensed.  
"I sort of do the same as Neville, sir, in that I take my time-"  
"-You were two steps ahead of everyone else today, Potter. You're implying that everyone else must've gone at a slug's pace."  
"No! I did take time at first, but I worked faster to save myself more time." Harry insisted.  
"You two were also blazing ahead of the others." Snape now turned to Dorea and Amelia. "Even Miss Granger couldn't keep up. What do you two have to say?"  
"The same as Harry." Amelia simply said.  
"Oh forget it." Snape snapped, causing the Gryffindor's to look startled. "I will not believe that my Slytherin's have mostly all been overtaken by a bunch of dunderhead Gryffindor's. If I find that any of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are also scoring higher than them, someone may just find themselves in big trouble. Is that clear?" Snape sneered.  
Everyone gulped and nodded.  
"Good. Now get out."  
The Gryffindor fifth years didn't need a second reminder. They burst out the class, and started having hushed discussions. "I can't believe him." Harry raged.  
"What a biased toerag," Parvati grumbled.  
"I bet someone in Slytherin tipped him off," Ron agreed. "And I'm willing to bet it was Pansy and her gang, I saw her talking to him and smirking at us."  
“What if he knows?” Harry had leaned in to Dorea. “What if he knows of the Potions Lab at Black Manor?”

She couldn’t help but consider that possibility. “During your Occlumency lessons, has he ever seen memories of you there, or of Black Manor in general?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I don't think so.”

“We should be fine, then. I think maybe we could work a bit slower though, because he is definitely getting suspicious.” She added. Harry nodded, and he told Amelia too.

At dinner, as they were sitting down with their friends, Ron had noticed that Sirius wasn’t at the staff table. Dorea shook that off, as not everybody finished classes exactly on time, so deduced that her father was probably just finishing up with a class. After all, the Astronomy classroom was quite a hefty climb and took a good few minutes to get to and from, so he was probably just coming as they spoke.

* * *

“Good work today, guys!” Sirius said in praise as the bell rang to signal the end of the period. “Don’t forget your homework on Lunar phases for Tuesday!” He said to the group of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sixth year students as they eagerly got up to leave. Half the class nodded, whereas the others were just jostling to get out and get down to dinner. He couldn’t blame them, really - lunch had almost been four hours ago, they were bound to be hungry.

He stayed behind a bit as he elected to tidy up his classroom a bit. Though he’d been a teacher since the start of term, Sirius still found it very strange he was even a Professor. Though the kids were great most of the time, he still had to remind himself that this was an education establishment and that he was expected to be professional. He didn’t take _that_ many liberties - though on occasion he would let his classes finish ten minutes earlier and he was quite lenient with homework due dates, depending on the situation. Though he was pretty fun, he did take his classes seriously too. Small, harmless pranks he let slip too, but he couldn’t abide disrespect or non-triers. He really cared about the kids wellbeing too; if he sensed that a particular year group were shouldering a lot of work (for example, the seventh years, who had been busy with their mock NEWTs the past few weeks), he would let the class decide if they wanted to spend the period studying whatever they wanted themselves or doing Astronomy work. It wasn’t that much of a bother if they didn’t want to do Astronomy that period at all; he’d been a student once, and free periods were times to get your own goals and targets met. For that, he could tell the older students were grateful he gave them time to themselves.

Tucking the last chair into its desk, he got his folder of work tucked away in its cabinet and levitated all the papers he had to mark back down to his office. He detested marking at the best of times, though it had to be done regardless. He was almost done marking the mock NEWT exams that he had made himself, he just needed a few more to do.

Just as he took his cloak off to go down to dinner, he noticed the letter he had received that morning sat on his desk. It was from Proteus Nott, who had wanted Theo to Floo over and see him one weekend (that little trip, however, would have to be arranged beforehand as not many students had the chance to use Floo networks at Hogwarts for obvious reasons). He reminded himself to send a response off as soon as possible - he wanted Theo and Proteus to really catch up on lost time.

A thought came to him then - what if he just went now? Proteus had enclosed within the letter his address, so Sirius could quite literally just Floo over right now. Though he didn’t know if Proteus would be at his own job, he could always leave a note. The man had a wife as well; maybe she would be at home? He didn’t know if they had house elves, but if he saw one he could easily get it to tell its master he’d arrived.

“Should I really go over right now?” Sirius thought out loud. It was dinner time, but he intended to only go over for a flying visit. If all else failed, he would easily just get one of the Hogwarts house elves to send some food to his quarters. Remus would probably wonder where on earth he’d gone, but he would tell him once he got back. He was sure the kids wouldn’t worry too much either. To be safe, he drafted up a letter and stuck it to the outside of his door in case they came enquiring.

“Proteus did say to pop over anytime…” He said to himself. 

With that, he made towards the Floo fireplace in his office. Grabbing a handful of powder, he adjusted himself multiple times so that he fit. _Let’s just hope there’s somebody at home, at least._ He thought.

Sirius took a breath, and said clearly the address of Proteus Nott, “Baldrine House, Isle of Man!”

Within moments he was transported through the Floo Network and found himself in what he assumed was Proteus’s living room or lounge. He couldn’t really see for a few moments as small grains of the powder had somehow gotten into his eyes as he was transporting. When he could see again, he was definitely not prepared for the sight that welcomed him.

In front of him was a medium-sized dining room table, and seating at it was a very alarmed looking Proteus and a woman who Sirius assumed was his wife. There was another place at the table with a plate of hot food occupying it, yet there was nobody seated at it. They must’ve gone to the toilet or something.

“Sirius!” Proteus said in welcome, yet he looked very on edge.

“Sorry I didn’t warn you I was coming,” Sirius started saying, “you said to pop over anytime… which I’ve just gathered you probably didn’t mean literally.”

“O-oh, no, it’s fine, it’s just-”

“Proteus, who is this?” The woman asked, looking at her husband.

“Rosaline, my dear, this is Sirius Black. He is housing my nephew.” Proteus gestured, and Sirius nodded at the woman in welcome, who did the same, now looking less uncertain.

“I just wanted to discuss the letter you sent, regarding a weekend you could come visit young Theo.” Sirius said.

“O-oh, yes well…”

The dining room door was opened, and entered the third occupant of the house. “I heard someone arrive.” The man, whoever it was, had his back turned to them as he was shutting the dining room door over again.

When the young man turned around, Sirius finally saw his face. 

_Oh my god,_ he thought to himself.

When the person looked straight at him, Sirius’s heart almost fell through the floor. He felt himself go cold, and frozen. He thought this was some sick prank; there was no way this was happening.

Why, you might ask?

Well, standing in the dining room of Proteus Nott’s house was none other than someone who Sirius thought dead for years.

His brother, Regulus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I did that.  
> Massive plot twist at the end!! Don't worry if you're a bit in disbelief over it, I will explain why that certain character is alive in the next chapter.


	26. Reunion of Sorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think I got Sirius's reaction pretty nailed on here?  
> Also, my Regulus Black faceclaim is Timothee Chalamet

Sirius was still standing, comprehending. It honestly had felt like the world had come to a standstill, as if the earth had stopped tilting and spinning. His little brother, who was supposed to be long dead, was standing mere feet away from him, having just entered the room.

His first thought was awe. Reggie was okay! His little brother was perfectly fine, he wasn’t a corpse buried underground after all. However, that feeling didn’t last long at all - for what came next washed over him like a tidal wave. He now felt all sorts - betrayal, anger, and sheer confusion. _That can’t be Reggie,_ Sirius’s mind started screaming at him, _it just can’t! This is some sort of mind game, or something._ It was a cruel prank - what did Proteus gain from it? It was darn disrespectful to impersonate somebody’s dead relative.

He tried to speak, but nothing really came out. He genuinely was speechless and lost for words. His brain wasn’t engaging at all either.

Proteus and his wife, Rosaline, were still sitting, yet both of them were looking between the two Black brothers and looked prepared for either one of them to erupt any second now. Sirius’s gaze was temporarily torn from Regulus when Proteus’s chair started scraping back against the floor, the man standing up. “I think we should leave you two to have a…. Reunion. Don’t trash the room too much.”

Proteus and Rosaline Nott both shuffled towards the door that Regulus had come back through just seconds ago. Or was it minutes? Nobody had really been counting. Proteus had cast a warming charm on their plates of food as he got up. When the door clicked shut, Reggie even balked a bit.

“Sirius…” His little brother mumbled, shuffling forward a few steps but soon deciding to stop when Sirius flinched.

“You….” Was all he could reply. “You little runt… where have you been all these years?!”

Regulus gulped. “B-brother, I can explain-”

“You dare call me that?” Sirius found himself possessed of an entirely coherent mood. “You dare say that and expect me to believe it?! My brother is _dead! DEAD!_ You are a sick, cruel person to be posing as him! Reveal yourself, whoever you are!”

“Sirius, please! Calm down!” His brother stepped backwards as he stalked forwards.

Sirius whipped his wand out and near jabbed it in his face. “ _Revelio!”_

Nothing happened, to his utter dismay. He tried again, and again and again, but still it didn’t work. _There’s got to be another way to prove it isn’t him…_

A thought came to him then. And more strength, though he didn’t remember grabbing ‘Regulus’ by his shirt collar and pushing him backwards so that he was holding him up against the wall. A screech was let out as he did so.

Pointing his wand so that it was near the impersonators throat, Sirius started talking again. His method was to ask this person questions that only he and his brother knew the answers to - for they were mostly related to their childhood. “What did father punish us for doing on the eve of my seventh birthday?” He asked slowly, as if he wanted the person to think very carefully of what they answered.

‘Reggie’ gulped. “For eating all the marzipan out of the pantry in the middle of the night.”

Sirius lurched. That was the correct answer. _Anyone could have guessed that though…_ So he tried another one. “What did you do for me on my last Christmas Day spent in Grimmauld Place, before I left for the Potter’s?”

“Snuck you a plateful of leftovers.” Regulus answered.

That was, again, the correct answer. Their mother and father had neglected Sirius by that point and forbade him to eat with them at the table, so later on Regulus had tiptoed up to Sirius’s bedroom and snuck him a plate filled with Christmas dinner. He had been very grateful for that.

Sirius felt himself numbing - was this _really_ Reggie? His eyes were the same, his voice had obviously changed a bit as he was now a man, but apart from that he was exactly how Sirius remembered his little brother. Eventually, Sirius lowered the arm that had Regulus pinned against the wall, and his brother eased.

“Brother, now that you know I’m not an imposter, I can tell you everything.” Regulus Black said, walking back towards the table but still facing him.

Feeling himself regain conscious thought, Sirius was still on edge. “You joined the Death Eater’s, brother, I haven’t forgotten.” He said, a tad quietly, yet it was filled with a bit of venom.

Regulus shuddered. “I soon came to rue that decision, Siri.”

“ _Rue it?_ ” He spat, “You knew fine well that Voldemort was planning attacks on my own friends - and we all know how that ended! They killed Edgar Bones, Benjy Fenwick, Caradoc Dearborn… You were complicit!”

“Sirius-”

“- _Shut up!_ You sat at those meetings and listened to your master plot the deaths of those people and yet you did _nothing_ to stop it! Half the Order of the Phoenix were murdered - my friends!! THEY KILLED JAMES AND LILY, REGULUS! THEY MURDERED MARLENE!” Sirius found himself shouting, half grief and half anger. “You also sat and listened to him planning to murder children! _Your own niece was bound to be a target!_ ”

His throat was going raw. He must’ve ranted some more, but yet he couldn’t comprehend what he was saying anymore. Regulus, to be fair, was taking it all on the chin. Then again, even though Reggie was father’s favourite, even he had been on the receiving end of some shouts…

Sirius barely felt the tears streaming down his face. It was the oddest feeling in the world; he felt happy yet furious, grief-stricken but relieved. 

“Siri, I-I know that all you say is true. I don’t blame you for feeling that way or saying it. Now, can we please sit down and speak to one another civilly? I will tell you everything.”

So he did. Regulus explained everything, and answered every question Sirius put to him. Reggie had said that he had become a Marked Death Eater mostly to please mother and father, and though he wasn’t initially invited along to the attacks on muggles, he had once been taken along with Lucius Malfoy, Travers and Jugson to harass and tortrue muggle borns in Liverpool. That was apparently where Regulus had lost heart, barely a month into his servitude. He attended meetings reluctantly, though he attempted to gain information from them to use at a later date. Sirius was angry that his brother hadn’t once protested during the meetings, but eventually understood why he couldn’t - for the simple reason being that he’d likely get killed right there and then.

He sighed. “So how did you manage to convince everyone that you’ve been dead since 1979?”

Reggie gulped. “Well, I was initially carrying out a sole mission - I will not tell you what I was doing, but I intended to sabotage the dark lord’s plans. It was a very important plan. He did not know I was going - only Kreacher did. It’s fair to say that the mission failed: I barely managed to escape with my life. I had almost drowned, but I managed to Apparate away at literally the last second. I’m afraid it’s a tale for another time.”

Sirius inclined his head, satisfied. “What have you been doing? Do you live here with Rosaline and Proteus?”

Regulus looked up again. “In truth, yeah. I knew I could not return to Grimmauld Place with our parents still alive; I had left them a note before I left to do the task. For almost a month I was living like a muggle - I found shelter in a hostel. Then I remembered Rohan Nott mentioning a disgraced brother of his… And well, the rest is history. I reached out to Proteus, and he accepted me here even though he didn’t have to.”

Sirius was silent as his brother spoke. “You’ve lived here on the Isle of Man ever since?”

Regulus nodded. “There’s barely any witches or wizards that live here, so I can go out and know that nobody will recognise me. I have barely left this island.”

Sirius winced. “Even though you’re not cooped up inside, it still sounds horrible - being confined to just one little isle.”

His brother shrugged. “Gotten used to it. It’s actually a very quaint and interesting little place - I’ve even learned a bit of Manx. I wonder what father would think of that.”

He almost chuckled, but then just stared at his younger brother. “Why didn’t you show yourself sooner?” He asked, almost softly. “Surely Proteus gets the _Daily Prophet_ delivered - you must’ve known they set me free?”

Reggie looked down at his hands. “I wanted to, truly… but I knew you would be livid with me. We were on opposite sides of the war, though on my part I was planning on abandoning the dark lord. I know it makes me sound cowardly, but I wasn’t. I wanted to help, but at the same time I was terrified of rejection and getting hurt.”

He silently weighed up his brother’s words. He knew that he was being heartfelt and honest, and could understand why he wanted to stay hidden. Sirius still felt hurt that he had faked his death though; he had cried many a night (sometimes unwillingly) over it - after all, Reggie was his little brother, who had been his rock before he began attending Hogwarts. At times, Sirius had felt like he’d failed him.

Regulus Black looked up at him again. “Y-your little girl, Sirius, - Dorea. Is she well?”

His heart warmed, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Not so little anymore. She's doing very well. She’s at Hogwarts right now, with Harry and Amelia Potter, who are obviously my godchildren and therefore my wards.”

“I wish to meet her, but she’d probably be frightened to death of me.”

“Why do you say that?” Sirius asked.

“I’m sure you barely spoke of me to her - after all, the people I worked with killed her mother. I would be heartbroken if she saw me with contempt, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you.. Told her about me.”

He considered. “I’m sure she knows what you did. But she’s got a great personality, really - she barely holds anyone in contempt.”

Reggie lit up. “Oh… well, better late than never. I’d like to meet my niece, Siri.”

He eyed his brother, and really did find himself smiling. _Does this mean I’ve forgiven him?_ Not even he knew. “That can be arranged, most definitely.”

Sirius found himself doing more talking, and explained that he was now the Astronomy teacher at Hogwarts. Regulus had found that utterly hilarious, and he had never felt more alive when he was laughing along with his brother for the first time in years. He told him all about Dorea, and also Harry and Amelia. 

Eventually, Proteus and Rosaline were knocking at the door, wanting to come back in the room, saying that they were starving as they’d only just been tucking into their supper when Sirius had arrived. He wanted a few more moments with his brother, though, so told them to hang on for just another minute.

“Reggie, you could come live with us, and join our family.” Sirius placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“I could, brother, I know I could. You’re living at uncle Alphard’s house, correct?”

Sirius nodded. “Humongous house, plenty of rooms. You obviously wouldn’t be able to go outside of its wards and boundaries, but there’s plenty of stuff you could do within it.”

Regulus was clearly thinking. “I would like to, truly, but it would have to be at a later date.”

The two brothers looked at one another. An overwhelming emotion came upon Sirius Black, and it seemed Regulus was thinking the same - for at the same time they opened each other's arms and embraced one another in a huge hug. Sirius had tucked his head into Reggie’s shoulder as they were of similar height, and in a vulnerable voice murmured, “I’ve missed you, little brother.”

The dining room door opened, Proteus and Rosaline entered again. They both looked touched that the brothers had reconciled and reunited with one another as they were smiling warmly. 

Sirius was very reluctant to leave, but he had to - he himself was quite hungry and the kids were probably wondering where on earth he’d gotten to, though he had left a note on his door. With one last shared look at his younger brother, he Floo’d back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Arriving back in his office, he rubbed his face of any stray tears before sinking back down into his chair. It was a lot to take in - finding out your brother was actually alive, but now that he thought about it, he was glad. Though there was a lot to catch up on, he really did want Regulus to come and stay with them at Black Manor. He wanted Dorea to finally meet her uncle, he wanted Harry and Amelia to meet Reggie as well. He figured that Theo and Regulus actually had something in common; they were progeny of Dark magic users, and had grown to realise that going down the path of Death Eater’s was not beneficial at all. Ophelia would have company too - though she was planning on getting a job, she would have somebody to speak to on her days off, providing that Reggie and her got along of course. 

He jumped slightly when he heard a large knock at his office door. “Come in!” He called.

Remus all but burst in, and seemingly sighed with relief when he saw Sirius. “Where have you been? Dinner’s practically finished!”

“I went to Proteus Nott’s house…” Was all he said, not sure if he could tell Remus or not.

His best friend knew he was hiding something though. “And?”

“You’re going to think I’ve gone barmy when I say this,” Sirius shook his head.

“I’m listening.”

“Regulus is alive.”

Remus stared at him. “...What?”

“My brother didn’t die, Moony. He’s alive and well, though I hardly believe it myself I asked him personal questions that only me and him would know the answers to - he got them right, and I made triply sure it wasn’t someone pretending to be him via Polyjuice - nothing happened, so it is really him.” He rambled.

“But, how? Has Proteus been housing him since his ‘death’?”

“Yes,” Sirius nodded, “he hasn’t left the Isle of Man since 1980.”

“Christ,” Remus looked to be in disbelief. “I can barely believe it. How did you feel at the time?”

“I’ll be honest, I reacted pretty badly at first. Conflicting emotions and all that jazz. Screamed at him that he’d been indirectly complicit in the deaths of.. Our friends and loved ones.” He said, referring to James, Lily and Marlene. “But then I calmed down and he told me everything. Before I left, we hugged, for quite a long time, and as we were embracing one another I really felt soft and warm. I think… I think I forgive him, Moony.”

Remus smiled at him with sympathy. “He’s your brother. Life’s too short to be arguing with one's siblings.”

Sirius agreed firmly. “He might - I say that, I’ll force him to, - come to live with me, Ophelia and the kids at Black Manor.”

“That would be really good,” Remus nodded, “Dorea will really bond with him, I think. Though I’m practically her uncle anyway, I think she’d be delighted at having an uncle who’s actually related to her by blood.”

Sirius nodded. “Yeah, it just makes me want the Easter holidays to arrive sooner.”

“Surely he could move into Black Manor before then? And maybe you could schedule a weekend where the kids could meet him?”

He considered that possibility. “That could happen too, but how do I even begin to go about telling them that he’s been alive all this time? _‘Hey Dorea, sweetie, here’s your uncle that everyone thought dead but is actually alive.’”_

 _“_ We’ll come up with something.” Remus said, chuckling a bit. 

* * *

Saturday morning had rolled around, and was kickstarted when Harry woke with an awful start at six in the morning. He hadn’t been dreaming, so he was confused as to why he’d woken at this time. He shook that off, and knew it would be pointless to try and get back to sleep, so just decided to get up.

Peeking out of the curtains, the weather was alright. There was a bit of fog above the Forbidden Forest and the sky was grey, making the grounds look very dull. The grass was dewy, which meant there had been a slight drizzle of rain during the night. Just before he ended his observation, his eyes were drawn to Hagrid’s Hut, where the previously dark cabin had just been illuminated; meaning that Hagrid had just gotten up as well. 

Going down to the Great Hall after getting dressed, it was practically deserted except for a few Hufflepuff’s. He elected just to sit at Gryffindor table and see who all joined him. Just as he was pouring himself some tea, Terry Boot came down, and upon sighting Harry sat down across from him. “Morning, Terry,” Harry smiled warmly.

“Morning,” Terry yawned in response. “Do you usually get up this early?”

“No, not on this occasion. For some reason I woke up at six and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I just decided to get up.” He explained.

“Fair enough,” Terry said, helping himself to some toast and egg soldiers. “What are you doing today, then?”

“Me and Anthony are going to the Room of Requirement after breakfast to do some Arithmancy revision, as I’m really struggling with it.” He answered.

Terry seemed to feel his pain. “Personality Numbers, I’m assuming?”

Harry nodded. “I understand their uses, I just can’t get their significance into my head.”

“The Arithmancy class have just spent the last week and a half going over it, and even Vector understands it's very difficult. I honestly don’t know if I’ll continue Arithmancy at NEWT level if Personality Numbers also feature in that curriculum.” Terry agreed.

Harry shuddered at the mere thought of NEWT Arithmancy alone, much less NEWT level Personality Numbers content. He wanted to check the NEWT curriculum for Arithmancy at that level to see exactly what was covered. 

“Well, since Anthony offered to teach me it, one can only hope that he understands it, at least.” Harry reasoned.

“Me and him spent countless hours pouring over it in the common room with Sue and Lisa, and all four of us together barely managed to understand it. I suspect Anthony has been revising it independently though; he has a tutor, after all.”

Harry almost choked on his tea. “He gets privately tutored?”

“Well, during the summer before the start of the school year. He comes from a Jewish family, y’see, and his parents especially are quite determined for him to do well at school, so they pay a tutor to have lessons with him every summer in a good few subjects.” Terry explained, “His tutor is ruthless, apparently, but a nice man.”

Harry didn’t quite know if he would cope with a private tutor during summer holidays - a time usually spent relaxing after almost nine months of school. He could tell it really helped Anthony Goldstein’s intellect though; for Anthony was constantly scoring nothing less than E’s in his class tests, and O’s in classes like Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Transfiguration. 

Stephen Cornfoot came down with Michael Corner, and the two boys looked like they were contemplating sitting with Terry and Harry, but quickly rerouted to Ravenclaw table. Harry wasn’t surprised - though the two boys were DA members, you could tell they attended the club not for any love of Harry, but because they wanted to better themselves. Whenever Harry went around the Senior group and asked those two in particular how they were getting on, they would always give short answers and keep themselves to themselves. He noticed that Stephen in particular was influenced by Michael; whenever Corner wasn’t around, he was quite nice to talk to, especially in Runes - but when the dark-haired boy was in the equation, he mimicked his attitude of reservation. 

As the time got closer to seven, more people were milling down to breakfast; notably Malfoy, who looked well presented despite it being a weekend, though Crabbe and Goyle were complete contrasts - they looked like they’d just gotten up, for their shirts were stained and ties weren’t tied. Anthony came down, though he was speaking with Ernie Macmillan who waved at Harry before deciding to sit with his fellow Hufflepuff’s. Anthony sat down next to Terry and made a mad dive for the challah French toast. “Morning fellas,” the boy said pleasantly.

“You okay to go and revise straight after breakfast?” Harry asked him after saying hello.

Anthony Goldstein nodded vehemently. “Yup, definitely. My tutor showed me a good exercise that really gets it in your head. I think I should suggest it to Professor Vector too, so she can do it with the class and speed things up.”

Feeling optimistic, he nodded and carried on eating. He saw Ron walk in with Hermione, Amelia and Dorea, who soon were sitting along from him. Ron was soon in discussion with Ernie, who was sitting back-to-back with him at the Hufflepuff table, and looked very excited. “Me and Ernie are going to tune in to the European Wizarding Chess Championship on the Wizarding Wireless,” Ron said happily when he turned back around, “Jules Caron, the reigning French champion, is playing some geezer from Belarus at eleven, so we’ll be tuning into that.”

“Mind if I join you two?” Terry asked. “I have a bet with my dad that Caron will win; wanna know the results as it happens.”

“Of course!” Ron replied. Harry smirked a little bit - before the DA, the only time Ron would ever interact with Ernie would have been in Herbology class, and he hadn’t even had a conversation with Terry before. The DA was working very well, and it had mostly been thanks to Harry.

At eight, Harry and Anthony had both finished their breakfast, so decided to head on up to the Room of Requirement. A desk appeared for them, along with chairs. They decided to sit next to one another so that it was easier.

“Right, let me get my notes out…” Anthony said as he reached into his bag. Quickly glancing, Harry noticed that the boy had about six parchment notebooks in his bag; he wondered just what classes they were for, but when the boy pulled some out in order to rummage more he saw that some of them were dedicated entirely to his private tutelage. 

“Here it is!” Anthony said at last, flipping through one of his notebooks and laying the page flat on the table so that Harry could see it. Harry immediately got his own notebook out, along with his inkpot and quill.

“We don’t really need to go over the uses of Personality Numbers, I get all that, it’s just everything else surrounding it I don’t understand.” Harry commented, just so Anthony knew what to go over.

The boy nodded. “Okie dokie. Just give me a minute or so to have one last read over the exercise so I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Harry nodded, and whilst he was waiting decided to label his page with a title and a heading. Anthony was soon ready. “Okay, let’s get started. So we know that Personality Numbers can be used in order to at least attempt to predict some sort of futures, and can be used in conjunction with other sorts of magic such as Divination, to increase power and success rates.”

Anthony gladly paused as Harry noted that down. He soon nodded at the Ravenclaw to continue once he’d done that. “As their name suggests, they are also used to predict a person's personality via a method of calculation, and the final, singular number at the end of the sum is an individual's given Personality Number. Every single Personality Number - 1 to 9, - has a differing meaning, and most of the meanings ring true to the person.”

Harry noted that down dutifully. Anthony moved on to the actual exercise he had mentioned before. “Okay, here’s what we do. Along the top, write down the numbers one to nine.”

Harry did so. Anthony nodded. “Now, underneath these numbers, write every single letter in the alphabet - for example, write A under 1, B under 2, C under 3, etcetera, until you get to Z.”

Anthony ended up also doing the exercise as he spoke, and took a few moments to also do it. The boy soon continued though. “Now, we’re going to write down our names, and once we do that, write down the numbers that correspond to the letters of our name.”

Harry took a minute or so to do that. His paper now looked like this:

_H A R R Y P O T T E R_

_8 1 9 9 7 7 6 2 2 5 9_

“Now we’re going to reduce these to find out our ‘Character’ Numbers. We do this by adding up every single number we have in our names.” Goldstein said.

Harry added up 8+1+9+8+7+7+6+2+2+5+9, and he got 65.

“You got 65,” Anthony said, peeking at his paper, “now, we’re going to split those two numbers to individual ones, and in your case you’ll do 6 + 5.”

“11,” Harry answered instantly, noting it down.

“And finally, your character number is going to be whatever 1 + 1 is, as we split them again. Obviously, your character number is 2. We’ll look up what it means in _Numerology and Gramatica_ once we have your Social and Heart Numbers.” Anthony said pleasantly. “I got 4 for my Character Number.”

“This is really helping me already,” Harry grinned, eager to learn more.

“Next: Heart Numbers. This one is far easier: All you do is calculate as you did before, but only add the numbers that attribute to the vowels in your name. Once we do that, we split the number again and add the two values to get the Heart Number.”

Harry was already doing it - he added 1, 6 and 5 together to get 12, split it so it was 1 + 2, and got 3 as a result. Anthony got 9 for his.

“Lastly, Social Numbers. This one again is pretty simple; we do the same as we did for the Heart Number, but use only the consonants in our name.” Anthony instructed.

Harry added 8, 9, 9, 7, 7, 2, 2, and 9 together to get 53. Splitting it so that it was 5 + 3, he figured his Social Number to be 8. Anthony double checked it, and confirmed that was indeed his number. The Ravenclaw’s Social Number was found to be 4.

“Brilliant!” Harry exclaimed in relief. “That was really quite simple. I’m really beginning to understand it now.”

Anthony Goldstein grinned knowingly. “Now let's check what these numbers actually mean.”

The two boys got their copies of _Numerology and Gramaticca_ out, and flipped the tome-like textbook open to the relevant section. Scanning his eyes over the notes, Harry read what it meant to get a Character Number of 2: “ _Two represents interaction, two-way communication, cooperation, and balance… Peace, harmony, commitment, loyalty, and fairness are characteristic... But two also introduces the idea of conflict, opposing forces, and the contrasting sides of things: night and day, good and evil._ ”

Harry learned that his Heart Number of 4 indicated stability and firmness, like a table that needed four legs to rest solidly. Fours also were practical, reliable and down to earth; they ‘prefer logic and reason to flights of fancy’. He figured that was definitely true about him - though Malfoy provoked him into conflict quite a lot, he always preferred avoiding it and either reasoning or ignoring him. The textbook said that people with Social Number of 8 were _‘practical, ambitious, committed, and hard working.’_ He concluded that definitely resonated with his character; for he was all four of those characteristics with the DA alone, and in his subjects too. He almost found it quite spooky how accurate Personality Numbers were; he definitely preferred this way of predicting characters and futures than the methods used in Divination - which were quite frankly unreliable and only worked on chance.

The two boys did some more revision regarding the subject of Arithmancy in general before they realised that they’d been in there almost two hours. Finishing up, as they were tidying away their books and notes, Anthony spoke up again. “Me and Daphne are getting pretty close…”

Harry smirked. “I remember someone saying they saw you two together on Valentine’s Day. How did that go?”

“Really good, actually. She’s a nice girl. I hate how we’ve barely had any spare time to hang around with each other, but I’ll ask her to partner me in DA tonight. Are we going to start duelling each other?” Anthony replied.

“We’ll warm up on the dummies for fifteen minutes or so before I’ll let groups of people start duelling each other; obviously this room isn’t quite big enough for everyone to space out and duel at the same time, so I’ll maybe let ten pairs duel for ten minutes and then switch to let another ten pairs duel, so on and so on, until everyone’s had a go at it.” Harry explained, zipping his bag back up.

Anthony nodded. “Sounds good. I’m looking forward to seeing how Neville duels.”

“Oh, I know, he’s rapid at duelling the dummy.” Harry remarked - Neville had improved almost that drastically that Harry had almost thought that somebody was Polyjuicing him. He would make a great Auror one day, he knew. 

Lunch was spent in the company of Blaise, Theo and Neville, the former two boys were sitting with the Gryffindor boy when Harry arrived in the Great Hall again after saying goodbye to Anthony, who was going to the library with Justin and Wayne. As Harry sat down with the three of them, Neville was in the middle of an explanation. “You’ve got to be quite firm with Chinese Chomping Cabbages, but gentle at the same time. The trick to avoid getting bitten is to constantly let them know that you’re there and to not hesitate to grasp them shut if they go on a rampage.”

Blaise and Theo had hung on to every word of that, and looked like they were mentally noting that for a later date. They acknowledged Harry’s arrival as he was ladling Scotch Broth soup into a bowl. “Where were you?” Blaise quizzed.

“Studying Arithmancy with Anthony.” He supplied.

“Nice,” Blaise said, though the boy didn’t take Arithmancy, “has Anto still got the hots for our dear friend Daphne?”

Neville chuckled, and Theo smiled. “He’s going to partner her in DA tonight,” Harry answered, smiling knowingly.

“Aren’t we duelling one another tonight? It could be disastrous if Anthony accidentally hurts her, or knocks her out cold.” Theo said.

“Anthony’s too smart to send out the wrong spell,” Harry reckoned, “and he doesn’t seem the type to lose his cool over a girl.”

The two of them remained where they were even after lunch was over. At quarter past one, Ron, Terry and Ernie entered the Great Hall at last and sat down quickly. “Caron won, but only just. The Belarusian almost outwitted him it was that agonisingly close.” Ron said excitedly.

“Definitely led him into a false sense of security; played utter crap in the first half, but then wiped out half of Caron’s board in the second half. Caron was panicking, you could tell, and the commentators were getting nervous.” Ernie added, “I so wish the underdog from Belarus won though, just for a place in the next round.”

Harry had no clue who they were talking about - even though he liked a game of wizard chess with Ron sometimes, he didn’t follow it as a sport. All he knew was that Jules Caron was a world-class player, and he’d almost been beaten by a lesser-known contestant. 

* * *

That evening's DA session had really made Harry quite delighted and confident about his fellow students - for they all looked really promising in their duels with one another. Though everyone had things to work on, they all had their strengths. Dean’s _Protego_ was one of the strongest Harry had ever seen; not even Blaise could break it. Ginny, of course, was a powerhouse in herself - utterly relentless and quick-thinking, as were Hermione, Amelia, Dorea and Luna. Padma Patil wasn’t afraid to sneak in a few tactics of her own to win her duels when things looked to be going bad for her. Neville had even duelled a sixth year Hufflepuff girl called Leanne - and he had won within barely two minutes of the duel. All in all, he was very pleased with every single Senior DA member; and would sleep better at night knowing that if there was ever to be another inside attacker like Francis Selwyn lurking about the school, they would be able to defend themselves and prevent injuries.

“You lot are amazing, you know that?” Harry praised at the end of the session, and everyone grinned back at him. “We’ll continue duelling for the next few weeks and then possibly spend up until Easter just going over what we’ve learned so far. Before the Easter holidays, we could possibly act out differing situations such as ambushes and battles, if you want?”

Mostly everyone nodded back at him, looking excited. “Great! See you all next week!”

He stayed back with Professor Flitwick to tidy up the room a bit, and to remove any stray Cushioning Charms. He also switched the time delay clocks off (he had told Flitwick about them, and though the teacher looked concerned that he was messing with time, he was fine with it once Harry explained the mechanism of the clocks).

“You really should be proud of them all, Mr Potter, they’re all where they are now because of you.” Flitwick complimented sincerely.

Harry’s cheeks were beginning to hurt; he'd been smiling that much. “I swear they’ve been practising in their spare time as well.”

Saying farewell to the Charms teacher, Harry left the Room of Requirement and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. On his way there, he ran into Remus. “Hello, Remus-”

“-Hi, Harry. Are you free to come to Sirius’s office? He needs to speak to you.” Remus asked quickly.

“Oh, erm, okay.” Was all Harry could really say. He wondered what on earth for…

* * *

Up in her father's office, Dorea was utterly confused as to why she was here. Remus had asked her and Amelia to come with him to Sirius’s office. When they had got there, Dumbledore was there, and all three men had ushered Dorea alone to go through another door, which was very odd as they didn’t explain anything. Could it have been Kaspar and Sofia, who had been her guardians up until the end of fourth year? She had felt terrible that she hadn’t written to them as much since term resumed, but she would explain all to them.

When she had stepped through the door, she really did not know what to do - she had just arrived in her father's quarters and they had barely told her anything.

She jumped slightly when she heard what sounded like footsteps. Who on earth was here?

A man came around the corner that separated the hall between the living room and the kitchen. Dorea didn’t recognise the person at first, but then she felt herself go cold when she puzzled it out.

Standing on the other side of the room was Regulus Black.

As in, her supposedly dead uncle.

“D-Dorea.” Regulus said softly. She had no clue what kind of facial expression she was pulling, but she knew it was one of confusion.

“Are y-you… really my uncle?” She asked.

“Yes.” The man said in something slightly louder than a raspy whisper.

“You’re alive?”

“A story for another time, sweetie.” Her uncle said warmly.

Dorea still stood and stared at the man. She remembered his letter that he’d addressed to Walburga and Orion; still tucked away in her trunk. Despite everything, Regulus had been a Death Eater. How was that forgivable? He was essentially in a terrorist group. 

But the letter had said how it had all been pressure - pressure from her grandparents that Regulus had to join else risk getting banished for life. That certainly seemed valid. Plus, her uncle had clearly been planning to abandon the Death Eater’s; he had mentioned betraying Voldemort himself. He had clearly lost heart.

Despite her conflicting thoughts, Dorea almost lurched forward and hugged the man who she had never met before now. It seemed both of them had become overwhelmed with longing and emotion - they were finally meeting after so long. 

Dorea was sure she would find it in herself to bond with her uncle, and discover just why he did what he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Arithmancy stuff, I got the information from:  
> https://www.beyondhogwarts.com/harry-potter/articles/an-introduction-to-arithmancy.html#:~:text=Arithmancy%20is%20a%20method%20of,foretell%20the%20outcome%20of%20battles.


	27. Enlisting Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in case anyone's forgotten, here's who I imagine as faceclaims for each of the characters (for ones I haven't listed, its because I see their film actor as them):  
> Amelia Potter: Sarah Bolger (when she was in The Tudor’s)  
> Dorea Black: Anna Popplewell (from when she was in Narnia)  
> Theodore Nott: Joshua Whitehouse (when he was a bit younger)  
> Daphne Greengrass: Virginia Gardner  
> Astoria Greengrass: Katherine Langford  
> Megan Jones: Florence Pugh (specifically when she played Amy March)  
> Hannah Abbott: Ellie Bamber (especially when she played Cosette in BBC's version of Les Mis)  
> Susan Bones: Eliza Scanlen (particularly when she portrayed Beth March in Little Women)  
> Wayne Hopkins: Archie Madekwe  
> Justin Finch-Fletchey: Freddie Highmore  
> Anthony Goldstein: Tarjei Sandvik Moe  
> Terry Boot: Sean Delaney  
> Michael Corner: Edward Bluemel  
> Stephen Cornfoot: Ed Spleers  
> Sue Li: Lana Condor  
> Penny Haywood: Willa Fitzgerald  
> Tulip Karasu: Hoyeon Jung  
> Barnaby Lee: Froy Gutierezz  
> Jae Kim: Woo Do Hwan  
> Liz Tuttle: Amandla Stenberg  
> Badeea Ali: Selda Al Bayrak  
> Diego Caplan: Xolo Mariduena  
> Chiara Lobosca: Kiernan Shipka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Amelia gets a grip of her wandless abilities, Harry shocks Snape with his new Occlumency skills, and the overhauled Daily Prophet announces an apology to Harry. Easter holidays loom.

Regulus Black felt like a father as he embraced his niece; finally meeting her after so long. His lips were even quivering and his eyes were watering. He drew back to look at her. “You have your father's look,” he commented.

The girl smiled brightly. “You barely look a day over twenty - I seen photos of you back at Grimmauld Place.”

“You’ve been to that wretched place?” He was surprised, though he figured the lass wouldn’t have gone on her own; Sirius probably took her along.

“It’s the Headquarters for the Order.” The girl told him.

He nodded. He then gently walked her over to the couch, where they were soon sitting at. “I’m aware that all of this will be a bit of a shock to you, and that your dad and Lupin didn’t really elaborate as to why you were being brought here, but I honestly won’t be bothered if you hate me - I was a Death Eater, after all.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine, really. Added to the suspense.”

He chuckled. “I’m aware this is all a bit of a shock, b-but I can answer any question you might have if you have any doubts at all.”

So she did. She asked him all about his thought process behind his decision to join the Death Eater’s, and also why he’d faked his death after so long in the first place. He told her everything earnestly, and even went off on his own tangents at times, yet she felt fulfilled with his responses nonetheless. By the end of his explanations, Dorea came to the conclusion that her grandparents were well and truly arseholes.

Dorea hadn’t even realised that they’d been sat talking for almost half an hour, until they heard a knock at the door. It was instantly opened, and in the doorway was Amelia and Harry.

The two twins were frozen in place. They were looking solely at Regulus, who eyed them expectantly. Her father was looming behind them, and smiled when he saw his brother and daughter bonding. Reggie ushered the Potter twins inside the room, and though they looked very confused, sat down timidly. They listened to her uncle explain everything - absolutely everything, until their brains were almost jam-packed with information. They soon settled around him, and were talking more freely and comfortably.

“Are you going to come stay with us at Black Manor?” Amelia had put a question to Regulus.

Her uncle nodded. “In time, yes. I’ll be moved in by the time your Easter holidays rolls around. I understand you have a few housemates there as well as yourselves?”

“Theodore Nott, my boyfriend, and his mother Ophelia.” Amelia answered.

Regulus nodded. “Theodore’s parents recently separated, correct?”

Harry answered. “Yes, and Mrs Nott filed for divorce. There’s been no news if it's gone through yet or not.”

Regulus looked down at his hands. “It’s good of you to be housing them; Rohan Nott is a monster of a man. He would have forced his son to take the Dark Mark as soon as he turned sixteen if they’d stayed there any longer.”

They shuddered at that - They really had dodged a bullet in that regard. The same couldn’t be said for kids like Crabbe and Goyle, and Malfoy.

Sirius appeared in the doorway. “You really should be Flooing back to Proteus’s house, Reggie, the one here only has eight minutes left on it before it closes off.”

Dorea felt an overwhelming feeling then - she did not want her uncle to leave at all. She would have preferred it very much if he could stay a while longer. But she did suppose there were other times. She managed to go practically all of fourth year without seeing her father, so she would do the same regarding her uncle. 

Dorea got up at the same time as Regulus. Amelia and Harry gave them their respective space - after all, they’d only just been united, and now after such a short space of time they had to say farewell again. She could feel her lip quiver slightly as she embraced her uncle - yet she wasn’t overly upset. “It won’t be long before we see one another again, dear girl,” Reggie murmured to her, “we’ll all have the Easter holidays to spend in one anothers company, and catch up.” The man smiled at her as he pulled back, and even kissed the top of her head. She sighted her father observing them, and he smiled warmly at the sight.

When her uncle had said farewell to Amelia and Harry, did he shuffle over to the fireplace. Sirius was soon alongside him. She saw the two Black brothers talk for a few short seconds before they too embraced one another in a hug. Dorea couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she knew that they were exchanging words of farewell. With one last wave to them, Regulus Black picked up a handful of Floo powder, said the address of Proteus Nott’s house, and was gone in a whoosh of flame.

It had seriously felt like a dream, as if there had been nobody there the whole time and she’d just imagined her uncle was there. Perhaps it was longing for more family - maybe her brain was deceiving her and her uncle really was dead. At this point, her dad, Remus and her god siblings all could have been going along with it to let her live in her false reality, only to harshly bring her back to the present like the plotline of some award-winning psychological thriller muggle movie. 

But they weren’t, for that had really just happened. It was confirmed by Harry. “That was something else.”

“How do you feel, Dorea?” Amelia had asked her quietly. “I can imagine that reveal shocked you the most.”

She didn’t answer straight away. Her eyes were still lodged in the vicinity of the fireplace that her uncle had just Floo’d away from. Gone in a flash, quite literally. “I feel a lot of things.”

Amelia nodded, understanding, and didn’t ask any more questions. For that, Dorea was grateful. 

“Get back to your common room now, guys,” Remus said, patting them each on the shoulders as they walked past him. “That was a lot to take in.”

“Are… Are we to tell our friends about this?” Dorea asked, though she didn’t remember willing herself to.

“Best not, not yet anyway.” Her father answered, looking straight at her and giving her a look which screamed “ _Are you okay?”_

She nodded, both at his answer and at his questioning look. With that, she slowly turned back around and walked with Harry and Amelia back to Gryffindor Tower, all three of them content with just being silent on their walk back.

It was fair to say that Dorea went to sleep that night with her uncle’s handwritten note hanging out of her hand.

* * *

After showering, Theo walked back into the fifth year Slytherin boys dormitory. None of the others were in the room, thankfully, though he’d noticed that Blaise had been in the dormitory whilst he’d been in the adjacent bathroom - for his bag was on his bed, when it hadn’t been before. 

As Theo towel dried his hair and got redressed, he had just pulled one of his sleepwear t-shirts over his head when he noticed a piece of paper half-poking out under Blaise’s bag. He eyed it curiously, and was tempted to glance over it, but decided not to at the last minute; it was none of his business. His father had drilled it into him all his life to act proper, for the Nott’s were purebloods, and purebloods had expectations - he was not to concern himself with other peoples small business. He figured it was just a random note anyway - something from class or what not, that Blaise had taken out to remind himself. Moving back over to his own bed, Theo pulled on a light pair of joggers as he got ready for bed. He also got the muggle aftershave that Amelia had gotten him for Christmas out of his trunk and sprayed his neck and wrists with the cologne; his girlfriend had remarked how amazing it smelt on him, and because of that he wore it almost everyday. His mother had said at Christmas Dinner that the smell of the cologne itself was sure to get Theo some girls, and they’d all laughed at that. _Little do you know, mother, I do have one already,_ He’d thought at the time. 

As soon as he was dressed, he noticed Blaise walk back into the dorm, towel wrapped around his waist, clearly meaning he’d also been showering. Theo sat back on his pillows as he finished off his Herbology homework for Sprout, not really paying attention to Blaise as he was drying himself off. The sound of Blaise picking up the aforementioned piece of paper drew his eyes over to his friend though - he had no clue why the little piece of parchment was intriguing him so much. “What's that note?” Theo asked nonchalantly.

“From my dear mother, though the writing is only her hand; it’s Richard’s words.” Blaise replied, saying the first few words sarcastically. Richard was the newest boyfriend of Blaise’s mother, Francesca, and was apparently ‘the one’ for her - though she’d already been married to six other men. The thing with Richard, though, was that he was a Death Eater.

“Why would Richard be writing?” He asked.

“Because he’s a twat.” Was Blaise’s answer.

Theo chuckled. But when he looked up, he noticed his friend looked somewhat uneased - as if there was something off about him. Blaise had noticed him looking. It wasn’t often that Blaise held things back with Theo - they were comfortable talking to each other about mostly everything. “Alright, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable, but-”

“Nah, I’ll tell you.” Blaise cut in, and made to sit near the end of Theo’s bed. As a precaution, he locked the door to the dorm, though it seemed unlikely that either Draco, Crabbe or Goyle were going to come up just yet, they could so easily eavesdrop. “Richard and my mum are sending me tonnes of abuse, almost weekly, since Christmas.”

Theo let out a low whistle. That was certainly unexpected. “What on earth for?”

“I’ll tell you. A day before school resumed, I went down into the kitchen to make myself some tea - it’s one of the few times I ever leave my room, now that Richard’s moved in. When I walk in, mum and Richard are sitting at the breakfast bar talking, and Richard starts taunting me the second he sees me. Mum was sat the whole time tracing the Dark Mark on his arm. I ignore him and just make my cup of tea as quickly as I can. When I go to leave the room, mum is all like “ _Oh Blaise, darling, Richard thinks that it’s in our best interests if you take the Dark Mark when you turn sixteen._ ’”

Theo felt a bit startled, and instinctively looked at Blaise’s arm, though he knew there was nothing there. His friend's story sounded eerily similar to what Theo’s own father talked to him about the day before fifth year started… 

Blaise continued: “The man looks at me as if he’ll kill me if I don’t, but I say no regardless. That sets them both off - they didn’t physically hit me or anything, but damn, they threw every insult under the sun at me. I was hounded from my own house, by my own mother and her boyfriend. They were hammering at my bedroom door whilst I was packing my trunk, and I barged past them as I walked out of the door. I got the Knight Bus - which I do not recommend - to Diagon Alley, got a room at the Leaky Cauldron overnight, and in the morning I simply took the Floo to King’s Cross Station.”

Theo stared at his best mate cooly for a few moments as he processed all he’d just said. “Mate, why didn’t you tell me?” 

Blaise just shrugged. “I thought they weren’t being serious about it. I thought they were just angry at that moment, y’know? When I got their first letter I was even hopeful that they were writing to apologise - but no. My mother ranted, saying how the Zabini family had always been neutral in terms of wars, and that siding with people like Harry Potter were going to ruin our family’s reputation. She called me a blood-traitor. I just found it funny how Richard wasn’t racist to my face, yet in writing he’s suddenly able to hurl racial remarks at me.”

“Blaise, mate, that’s awful!” Theo near shrieked, “Richard’s an utter prick if he thinks he can get away with that!”

Blaise shook off that concern. “I’ll get back at him one day.”

“You could have asked Siriu- Professor Black if you could also join me in moving to Black Manor, he would’ve understood!” Theo realised. 

“Nah, mate, I didn’t want to be a burden.”

“But there’s plenty of room at Black Manor!” Theo insisted quietly in case Draco, Crabbe or Goyle were outside, “And you would not have been a burden at all!”

Blaise clearly looked like he was thinking. Theo was now totally invested in the idea of Blaise coming to stay at Black Manor - though would Sirius be? After all, it was his house, and it was meant to be a top-secret location. “What do you plan to do for Easter holidays, then? Since you can’t go back to your mum’s.”

Blaise pouted. “I forgot about Easter break, if I’m honest. I half-thought about just staying here for the two weeks, and maybe asking Professor Snape if I could brew in Dungeon Five over the break or something.”

“Blaise, here’s the thing about Black Manor: it has a whole room dedicated to brewing potions. We call it the Potions Lab. There’s an apothecary room next door to it, which is always topped up, so its unlimited use.” Theo explained. He smirked when he saw his best mate’s face light up.

“Woah, seriously?”

“Yeah,” Theo said, “there’s tonnes of things to do there. There’s a library as well, and some duelling chambers.”

He saw a spark light within his friend's eye. “You know what? I think I fancy coming to stay after all.”

Delighted that his best friend was no longer homeless (so to say), Theo pulled his mate into a one-armed hug. He felt relieved on his behalf; Blaise had a place to crash now, he wouldn’t get roped into Death Eater madness by his mother's boyfriend, all was well in those regards. He was sure that Blaise would love Black Manor as much as Theo did. He knew that Sirius would agree.

They went over the Herbology homework together, finishing the last few sections off before gladly stowing it away. They begrudgingly agreed to start on the History of Magic essay regarding the Werewolf Code of Conduct of 1637 together, though they only worked on it for ten minutes before getting very bored. Since the essay wasn’t due until Wednesday anyway, they figured they could come back to it later.

When Theo was tidying away his things and preparing his bag, did they hear a knock at the dormitory door. They looked to one another, thinking it was either Draco, Vincent or Gregory, and prepared themselves for another little scuffle before bed with the latter two in particular. When Theo opened the door, he was surprised to see that it wasn’t their three other dormitory mates, but that it was in fact Adrian Pucey.

“Oh, hello Pucey,” Theo said. He considered the Slytherin Chaser neither his friend nor his enemy. The boy came from a pure-blood family, yet the Pucey’s seemed to be neutral; they didn’t declare for Voldemort during the last war, but at the same time didn’t fight for the Order nor the Ministry either.

“Evening,” Adrian said, leaning against the doorframe, “I was wondering if I could speak to you two about something.”

“Er, sure, come in.” Theo said, gesturing. Pucey stepped forward instantly, and Theo closed the door behind him.

Blaise nodded at Pucey in welcome, yet he looked unsure as well regarding what the sixth year could be about to ask them. “I didn’t quite know who else to turn to and ask, since half of our House seems to be against the group, but… Is Potter’s Defence Association club any good?”

Pleasantly surprised, Theo almost smirked. _Is Adrian going to join, truly?_ “It’s brilliant, and really helpful. We’ve learned so much.”

Pucey inclined his head. “That’s good. I shan’t be telling anyone else about this - much less Montague, he’ll kick me off the Quidditch team, - but I’m thinking of joining.”

“You’ll be pretty far behind, but there’s no harm in speaking to Harry about it.” Blaise reckoned.

“Is Potter truly accepting? Even of us Slytherin’s?” Pucey asked.

“Yes. In fact, he particularly wanted Slytherin’s to join the club due to our House’s history of producing bad folk. Never once has he discriminated against anyone.” Theo answered sincerely, determined to give his close friend a good name. Blaise was nodding avidly as well.

“Didn’t he also save you two during an ambush? When that Selwyn boy attacked?” Pucey looked between the two of them.

“He didn’t have to, but he pushed us down to save our skin all the same. We had only had our first conversation with him minutes prior as well, yet he acted selflessly.” Blaise nodded.

Adrian Pucey definitely looked sold. “That’s a really nice thing that he did. You know, when I think about it… I can’t believe I ever believed the trollop that he was this arrogant, self-entitled Boy-Who-Lived mantra at all. He’s the complete opposite.”

Blaise and Theo smiled. “Before the DA we believed that lie too, don’t worry. Especially with the fiasco last year of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. But this year… we were the ones wrong after all, with everything.” Blaise said.

Adrian Pucey nodded. “Well, better late than never. I’ll speak to him Monday… What time does he go down to breakfast, usually?”

“Anywhere from six to eight,” Blaise replied.

“I’ll go down earlier, and see if I can catch a word with him.” Pucey decided. The two boys nodded, hopeful that he’d manage to join the DA.

* * *

On Sunday, Harry woke up at ten minutes past seven for some reason. He’d been dreaming of that corridor again, and it was like he was the snake again - he’d watched as it tried to get past the door, yet failed. He hadn’t meant to see it at all; in fact, it was sprung on him, so he had no clue how to stop seeing the visions, especially when he was meant to be practising Occlumency. Snape was sure to go ballistic when he heard that Harry hadn’t been practising once again.

Almost succumbing to the feeling that he was never going to master Occlumency, Harry got dressed and went down to breakfast. There were only about fifty or so people in the Great Hall when he arrived. Quickly scanning the room, he saw Susan sitting alone (for the moment) at the Hufflepuff table. He shrugged, and went over. “This seat taken?” He asked as he approached the seat directly across from her.

Susan grinned at him when she looked up from her bowl. “Go ahead!”

He plonked himself down gladly, and started buttering some toast for himself. “It feels like we haven’t spent time together in ages,” Harry remarked.

“Yeah, since that time I helped you with Arithmancy in the library.” Susan replied. “How are you getting on with it now?”

“I was really struggling up until Thursday, but then me and Anthony went to the Room of Requirement before DA on Saturday and he showed me a brilliant exercise which really has solidified Personality Numbers into my head now.” He explained.

Susan nodded. “Anthony is super smart, so it was wise of you to ask him for help. Even I am starting to get a bit desperate; it seems every lesson I'm asking Professor Vector for help. It’s worse when you think it only gets harder at NEWT level.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m the same - I don’t really know if I’ll even pass OWL Arithmancy with high enough marks to take it next year.” Harry replied, “What’s the minimum grade Vector wants for NEWT anyway?”

“She said in class at the start of the year that she takes nothing below Exceeds Expectations, but say if somebody got an A in the exam - if they were only a few marks off getting an E then she’ll let them onto the NEWT course. She’s pretty fair.” Susan explained.

“Ah, I see. I’ll sure have my work cut out to get even an A at OWL.” He said, and Susan Bones giggled. “What subjects are you hoping to take at NEWT?”

Susan had a think. “Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, Defence, Potions, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. I’ve not totally decided what I want to do yet job and career wise, which is annoying, but I’ll keep every option open. Aunt Amelia always hints that she could find me temporary jobs in every department at the Ministry, but I don’t know if doing government work all day every day is my kind of thing. If I pass Arithmancy, I’ll make a decision over the holidays, likewise with other subjects such as Astronomy. You?”

“Mostly the ones that I’m taking now, but like you say a lot of them are obviously depending on our exam results. I’ve always thought that being an Auror sounded cool, but like you I’m keeping an open mind. The whole reason I chose to take up Runes and Arithmancy was to broaden my qualifications and to make me look more appealing in that regard, but I suppose having them in any job field is an added bonus.” He said, pouring some tea for himself and adding a cube of sugar.

Susan made a noise of agreement. The two of them spoke some more regarding different subjects. Harry figured that since he could trust Susan, he quietly told her about his struggles with Occlumency. He was glad he did; for she said something surprising. “Ooh, you’re learning Occlumency? I’m an Occlumens too!”

He raised his eyebrows. “What, like, a proper skilled one?”

“I was taught it over the summer, quite extensively. Aunty Amelia insisted; since half of my family was killed during the First Wizarding War, she figured that in order to prevent You-Know-Who from being able to locate us or read our thoughts, we should have the upper hand and learn how to block our minds. Prevent more tragedy, y’know.”

Harry was mesmerised, in a way. He could see why the Bones family would want to learn the art - for their own safety mostly, and to stop Death Eaters from murdering their loved ones. He wondered what methods Susan had up her sleeve, as ‘clearing your mind’ was hard enough as it was without Snape parroting it every five minutes.

“Aunty is also a bit paranoid that since she is now Minister for Magic, that there could be Death Eaters lurking in the Ministry that are just waiting to put her under the Imperius Curse and have her do their bidding. Occlumency helps in that regard too.” Susan went on some more.

“That’s very sensible of her.” He said in amazement. “So, I know this sounds a bit cheeky since all of us fifth years are swamped as it is, but, do you think you’d be able to teach me some of the stuff you learned? Professor Snape is just not cutting it.”

Susan giggled. “It’s no problem asking for help, Harry. And to answer your question - of course I could. I made some notes whilst learning; regarding Occlumency shields and memory stores and all that jazz.”

He was confused. “ _Shields_ ? Memory _stores_ ? All Snape has been doing is thrusting his wand in my face and saying ‘ _Legilimens_ ’ until I push him out.”

“Oh my word, is he that bad? It’s like he’s not doing it properly on purpose; there’s far more to Occlumency than just pushing an invader out.” Susan was surprised. 

Just as they finished talking about Occlumency, did Hannah and Justin come and sit down near them, smiling. Megan, Wayne and Ernie weren’t far behind in joining them. Quite surprisingly, Harry noticed that when Zacharias Smith walked in, the boy went over to the Slytherin table and started speaking with a few older students. He didn’t quite know if that uneased him or not - the Slytherin students Smith was talking to were not DA members, which probably meant they were people that despised Harry. _I swear, if he goes blabbing to them about my club…_ Harry felt himself flare with anger a bit. Then he remembered the sign-up parchment; it would reject anybody who developed Death Eater sympathies, or inside informers. He wanted to ask McGonagall _exactly_ what happened to the person that betrayed the enchantments, for he hoped it was something embarrassing in Smith’s case.

“So are you free at all today? We could go to the Room of Requirement and make a start on what I learned during Occlumency.” Susan suggested.

“I’m free all day actually, we could go now?” He replied eagerly.

“Perfect, so am I! Let’s go!” Susan smiled happily. They said farewell to their other Hufflepuff friends before exiting the Hall together. “Can we stop by the dungeons? I need to go to my dormitory and get my notebooks.”

“Sure, I’ll wait outside.” Harry replied as they got to the staircase. They soon were down in the dank dungeons and he was waiting outside the entrance to Hufflepuff common room. As he leaned against the wall, a few students began filtering out. They eyed him at first, as if to wonder what he was doing outside there. One Prefect even demanded to know why Harry was so blatantly trying to sneak into their common room, and he had to explain he was only waiting on Susan. The Prefect grumbled and eyed him suspiciously before wandering off. 

When Susan reemerged, she was talking to Zacharias Smith’s younger sister, Sally. The girl was a second year, and a member of the Junior DA. Harry much preferred her to her older brother. She said hello shyly to Harry before walking away up the staircase.

“Right, shall we go then?” Susan said, clinging a few books to her chest.

When they had just reached the juncture between the fifth and sixth floors, they ran into Sirius and Remus. “Uh-huh, where do you two think you’re going?” Sirius asked mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows at Harry. You would have thought they’d caught them snogging.

“Room of Requirement. Susan offered to help me with Occlumency.” Harry said, gesturing to his Hufflepuff friend, who blushed a bit.

“You can do Occlumency, Miss Bones?” Remus near gasped. Sirius looked very impressed too.

“It’s become something of a Bones family requirement, Professor Lupin.” Susan replied, a bit cheekily. 

“That’s a very impressive feat to have it under your belt at your age, Miss Bones.” Sirius remarked, “Are you proficient in it?”

“I was taught it over the summer. It was exhausting at first, but I soon got the hang of it after multiple practices.” She said.

“Good on you, dear. Well, we best let you two get practising then. See that you teach him better than Snape - not that that's a particularly hard thing to achieve.” Sirius said, the last bit causing the four of them to chuckle. Harry said farewell to the two of them before they continued their own ways.

Entering the Room, it was much the same as it was for DA meetings - plenty of space and what not. However, Harry only had to simply think of the word ‘ _Occlumency’_ and a table with a record player appeared, with some vinyls on the table next to it. Susan went over to investigate. “There’s one labelled ‘ _Calming Music_ ’ and another titled ‘ _Sereneness’_. They’ll definitely help.”

“Do you know what exactly we’re going to be doing?” Harry asked out of curiosity. He trusted Susan, he just wanted to know.

“I want to see where you’re at with it, so I’ll perform _Legilimens_ a few times just to see how long it takes you to throw me out. After that, I’ll have you do a few mind exercises. Obviously, being worn out is the worst possible thing for your mind, so we won’t go too hard for today. We’ll take it slowly.” Susan explained, reading up on her notes and bookmarking a few pages.

After a few minutes, Susan was ready. “Right, Harry. You can either stand or sit, it doesn’t matter.” Thankful for that, he chose to sit. He’d probably fall out of the chair anyway. “Okay, I’m going to invade your mind, and you’re going to get me out of it. Please don’t be afraid to send spells out, I can take it. And do not feel embarrassed - I will not be snooping on your memories. They are not my business, I will be viewing them blankly and nothing more.” She explained kindly, and Harry felt very reassured, and already knew that this Occlumency lesson was going to go much better with Susan than with Snape. He already felt like he was enjoying it more. 

“I’m ready.” He said.

“Okay. On three - one, two, three, _Legilimens!”_

A memory of Harry dancing very badly with Parvati Patil at the Yule Ball was at the forefront of his mind. The scene then changed to Professor Quirrell demanding him to say what he saw in the Mirror of Erised. The Basilisk was now poised right before him, leering so close to him that he could see a string of saliva connecting the tips of two teeth. Now he was in the maze with Cedric, running towards the Cup, having no idea what was awaiting them…

He was yanked out of it when he came back down to earth, so to speak, and his surroundings were the Room of Requirement. Susan looked impressed. “That wasn’t very long at all,” she praised.

“They weren’t even bad memories… Sorry in advance if I scream.” He said, panting a bit. Susan smiled knowingly. 

“We’ll go again, if you’re ready?” She asked.

He felt himself adjust his glasses, though they had barely moved. Gulping, he nodded. “Ready.”

After three, Susan was invading his mind yet again, and more memories whizzed before him. Flying in the Ford Anglia with Ron and Amelia… Crashing into the Whomping Willow… Saving Hermione from the Troll in the toilets… Finding Tom Riddle’s diary... Speaking Parseltongue with the snake Draco had conjured…

He snapped out of it after what felt like years. He was still seated, yet he had been gripping the table quite a lot. Susan was healing a cut. “Oh my word, I’m sorry for that.” He said, gesturing to her hand. He must’ve sent out a Stinging Jinx or something.

Susan tutted playfully. “It’s really no bother, Harry! You’re here to learn after all - pushing me out via magic is the whole part of the learning process. Besides, are you forgetting I attend Madam Pomfrey’s Healing lessons?”

He smiled, knowing he was being a bit dramatic. Susan said they’d give it one more go before moving on to the mind-calming and though-erasing exercises she had lined up. The third attempt was one of the better ones - Susan had only seen three memories before Harry had thrown her out, though he didn’t know how he’d done it.

“That was good! We’ll leave the mind invasion at that, and do the exercises now. They really help your mind to heal, especially after penetration. They’re also the ones I recommend you doing every night before sleeping.” The girl gave him honest feedback. 

Susan went over to the record player and got the calm music one out of its sleeve before placing it carefully on the player and lining it up correctly. Within ten seconds, the record was spinning, and playing. She adjusted the volume so that Harry would be able to hear her over the music. “Okay, so what you’re going to do is a meditation of sorts. The aim of it is to relax your mind and clear it so much that an Occlumency shield starts to form. The shield will prevent anyone from accessing your thoughts, though be warned; it’s not entirely impenetrable, it can be breached. If you’re relaxed enough, you will be able to see the shield form. But do not get distracted - it can easily break if you lose relaxation for even a nanosecond.”

Harry mentally noted that point down. Susan continued. “I will read out the exercise as you’re doing so. Think of me as the voice inside your head, rather than another person standing talking to you. Do not rip your concentration just because you hear me.”

Nodding avidly, Harry was eager to get going. “I’m ready.”

The meditation began. The music really helped with the exercise, as it made him feel at extreme ease. That, and the fact he was timing his breathing, made him feel as light as a feather. After ten minutes, he was getting a bit bored, but then, spectacularly, the Occlumency mind shield started to form. He saw it happening - it was platinum in colour and moving outwards to form a circular shape. Harry didn’t dare lose concentration now - he simply just sat and kept his focus, and watched as the shield now expanded to move shapeless around more of what looked like his brain. After five minutes, it was surrounding his whole mind. 

“Now, in order to secure it in place, I’m going to cast a spell which you will also repeat so it will secure your end too. After three…” The almost distant-sounding voice of Susan Bones instructed. He didn’t lose concentration. “ _Scutum secure,”_

Harry repeated the spell. It had a near instant effect - it glowed bright white for a second before staying in place. “Now to test it has worked, I will perform Legilimency and see what happens. Do not lose focus now, Harry, you’re doing brilliantly…. _Legilimens!”_

In his mind, he seen the spell moving very quickly towards the Occlumency shield. He even felt a slight impact as it hit off it. He figured he was sitting smirking as he watched the spell get maneuvered by Susan all around the shield’s perimeter, looking for a weak spot. When it did find an area of weakness, Harry focused on pushing it out of the boundaries, and since he could see what was going on now it felt much easier to try and resist. He also tried to build that area of the shield back up as he was doing so; kind of the same as trying to slam a door in someone’s face. Doing battle for about thirty seconds, Harry managed to push Susan out.

“Nice!” He heard her compliment loudly as he regained consciousness and came out of the meditative state. “That was very impressive, Harry, and it was only your first go! Trying to build the shield up took me five attempts alone!”

Rubbing his eyes and regaining his normal breathing, Harry grinned. “It was pretty draining, but so worth it. I just sat and relaxed for the most part, and it did all the work itself.”

“You do look pretty worn out,” Susan commented, putting her wand away. “I think we’ll leave it at that for today. How often do you think we can meet to practise?”

He had a think, mentally scanning his schedule. “I think Sunday’s will be the most likely day we can meet.”

Susan agreed. “Yeah, so long as neither of us have any homework, we can meet every Sunday. If all else fails, we can meet every two weeks.”

“Oh, and before you go, do you have any Occlumency books that you could recommend for me to read? Like, one with more exercises or something.” He asked her.

“I do - My father gave me this one to read up on when we first started learning, and it’s really helpful. I’ve bookmarked some pages of exercises you can do before sleeping every night to clear your mind.” The girl responded, handing him her own copy.

“Are you sure?” He eyed her, “I can easily send off an order form for Flourish & Blotts to get my own copy.”

“It’s fine, Harry, take it - I’ve done the exercises that often I’ve practically learnt them off by heart anyway.” Susan insisted, placing the book in his hands. Harry looked at the book, now his, and seen it was titled _“Occlumency: Controlling Your Mind & Other Principles”. _He stored it away carefully in his bag and tidied up.

Leaving the Room of Requirement, they discovered the time was almost half past nine, which was quite surprising as they thought they’d been in there longer. It was still practically breakfast. Harry then remembered he hadn’t told Ron, Hermione nor Amelia and Dorea where he was, and hoped they weren’t worrying about him. 

The two of them entered the Great Hall, which by now was almost full to the brim. Scanning his eyes, he saw his friends at Gryffindor table with a few other DA members. Susan said farewell to him as she was going to sit with Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa, and he made a quick beeline for the seat open next to Ron.

“Bloody hell, where were you?” Ron asked.

“I went to the Room of Requirement with Susan - she’s a skilled Occlumens, so she was teaching me some Occlumency methods.” He answered, making himself a much-needed cup of tea.

“I didn’t know Susan was an Occlumens.” Dorea said, surprised. 

“Neither did I - but she’s very good. I managed to build up a massive shield right around my mind simply by meditating, and when she tried to get into it I pushed her out!” He said in praise, proud of himself.

“That sounds really cool, Harry, but it makes as much sense as Gobbledygook, and that's coming from me.” Hermione said, a look of mischief. 

“Oh, I know, it still kind of is weird to me as well, but at least I’m learning.” He said.

The five of them went back up to Gryffindor common room and decided to finish off the last of their homeworks. Ron had to finish some work for Divination, whilst Harry and the girls had to finish off various others - mainly Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

Just before Harry got to work on the translation for Ancient Runes, did Fred and George appear. “Morning Harry,” George said,

“Have you got a few moments to spare?” Fred asked quietly.

He nodded, and was instantly gestured to follow the Weasley twins. They led him up the staircase and into their dormitory.

“Am I really allowed in here?” He wondered, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Of course!” Fred said, beckoning him inside. It took Harry a few moments to notice the other boy in the room - Kenneth Towler.

“Don’t mind Kenny, Harry,” George said, “he’s not going to snitch on us.”

Kenneth Towler said nothing except to give him a thumbs up.

“I’m assuming this is about new products?” Harry asked. He’d agreed to be their financial backer since he gave them his thousand-Galleon prize from the TriWizard Tournament at the end of June. 

“It is,” George nodded.

“And boy, have we been busy bees.” Fred continued.

“First of all, we’ve perfected this little baby of a bomb right here.” George said, reaching into a medium-sized sack to pull out a round sphere. 

“A _bomb?”_ Harry said, a bit mortified. Fred and George could be thrown into Azkaban as terrorists if they were caught with explosives. What if Harry got arrested too? He was funding them, after all..

“Not a destruction bomb, calm down,” Fred reassured him, “it doesn’t explode. What it does do is this.”

George went to maneuver a few feet away, almost beside the dormitory door. Fred launched the bomb and Harry braced himself for either a loud noise or some sort of impact. Unclenching his eyes, he was surprised to see that a murky swamp was now occupying half of the carpeted floor, and that George had sunken at least four feet into it. Only the boy's chest and upwards were not consumed by the swamp.

“What on earth?” Harry said.

“It traps your enemy, and more importantly; their arms. Very effective, ain’t it?” Fred pointed out. 

“Now imagine that I’m a Death Eater you’ve just been duelling,” George said, nonplussed despite being trapped in a makeshift swamp. “I now no longer can’t use my arms, as they’re trapped under… Which means I’m virtually useless now that I can’t use my wand nor any secret wandless abilities.”

It clicked. “Perfect opportunity to knock you out, hit you with an _Incarcerous,_ and arrest you!” Harry exclaimed.

“Precisely.” Fred clapped his hands together. 

“How long does it last? And how on earth do we get you out of there?” Harry wanted to learn more.

“Once it traps a person, it lasts half an hour. One prototype lasted forty-five minutes, however. It can be recalled anytime and has about twenty uses before the swamp enchantment starts wearing off. A simple _Finite Incantatum_ both untraps the person and returns the swamp to the capsule.” George answered. 

“They seem really handy and effective, guys!” Harry was very impressed. “I’d like some once you start selling them.”

“Your wish is our command, Harry,” Fred said, “you’re our financial backer, after all. We’ll notify you once we start selling.”

“Can’t wait,” Harry beamed, “what else have you two been developing?”

Fred and George showed him. They’d been in the process of producing many things before the mock exam period - among them what looked to be a packet of chewing gum at first glance; but in every packet there was always one piece of gum that was in fact vomit flavour. “You can always give that bit to the person you like least and watch them rush away to the toilets,” George had remarked. 

“Yeah, and watch everyone stay away from them when they smell their breath,” Fred quipped. Harry laughed at that. He wanted nothing more than to give a piece to Draco and watch the boys ego deflate.

The twins were also developing another product with an identical idea, but with a perfume product. Similar concept - it looked like an innocent gift of cologne, as when it was sprayed it initially smelt sweet-smelling, but after an hour or so it developed a smell akin to rotten eggs. 

“These really sound great, guys,” Harry said once the round up was done. 

“Cheers, Harry,” the two of them said at the same time. Then Fred spoke on his own, “we’ll figure out a plan to start selling the chewing gum and the perfume next week. We might leave the bomb for older and maturer students - y’know, in case an unsuspecting first year finds themselves trapped in a swamp and starts screaming bloody murder.”

He nodded at that logic. Once that was done, he said farewell to them and went back down to the common room. Rejoining his friends, he got back to his Ancient Runes homework, though Hermione kept giving him a sharp look.

* * *

Monday soon arrived, and with it another week of work. Amelia was up and about at seven, and when she went down to breakfast there was barely anyone there. Sitting down at Gryffindor table, she began filling her plate with toast, crumpets and one sausage. Just as she was about to get tucked in, she seen someone approach her out of the corner of her eye.

“Amelia Potter,” a voice said from next to her. Wondering who on earth it was, she turned, and saw that it was a Slytherin boy standing next to her.

She stared up at him a few moments. “Erm, do I know you?”

The boy smirked. “I’m Adrian Pucey, sixth year, and Slytherin Chaser.”

She almost gaped at the realisation. “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of you.” She paused as she put her knife and fork down onto her plate, and turned to face the boy, “what can I do for you?”

“I know I’m very late in expressing this wish, but I’m sure I can catch up. I wish to join your twin brothers club.” Pucey said, staring at her.

“Oh,” she breathed, “well you are indeed very late in wanting to join, but if you can indeed catch up then I’m sure he’ll let you join.”

The boy nodded. He was quite handsome, she supposed, but there was something sleazy about him. He was looking at her oddly too, and didn’t once break eye contact. “I would have spoken to your brother directly, but he’s not here, and I cannot be seen talking to him by my fellow Quidditch team mates.”

She blinked. “Oh really? How come?”

“Montague takes the team's reputation very seriously. We cannot be seen talking to who he calls ‘enemies’, else we get accused of fraternising. I came down here at half past six, but it's lucky you’re here at least.” Adrian Pucey said. “It sounds mad, I know, but Montague’s very pretentious.”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less of a pure-blood like him, no offense.” Amelia quite liked talking to this boy.

“None taken.” Pucey replied. “There is another thing I’d like to ask…”

 _If you ask me out, you’ll be getting a whole glass of pumpkin juice thrown in your face, boy,_ she thought, wondering what he was about to say. “Go on.”

“Since you are so close with her… a friend of mine, Vaisey, really fancies your friend Ginny Weasley, as it happens. Could you maybe ask her if she’ll let him take her out on a nice date during the next Hogsmeade weekend?” Pucey asked, leaning in a bit closer.

Amelia almost burst out laughing. She thought it very unlikely that Ginny would ever go on a date with a bloke she didn’t know. Amelia hadn’t even heard of this Vaisey… Pucey was looking at her expectantly though. “I’ll put the question to her, but tell your friend not to expect a ‘yes’ for an answer.”

Adrian Pucey burst out laughing. “That’s what I was thinking. Anyway, thank you for your time, and I’ll try and speak to your brother about the club. Farewell, Amelia Potter.” The boy stood up, and walked back over to the Slytherin table, glancing back at her and waving. She awkwardly waved back and gave him a short smile.

Not quite knowing what to think, Amelia awaited her friends to come back down.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope the thing with the Bones family being proficient Occlumens isn't too far-fetched. I thought that because they were quite hard hit during the last war they would want an extra layer of protection, especially since Amelia Bones is Minister for Magic now and can easily be manipulated against her knowledge or will. I know it seems a bit weird for someone like Susan to have mastered it in just over two months, but I've always imagined Susan Bones to be pretty smart and academically brilliant.
> 
> Also, I'm very looking forward to including Adrian Pucey in this fic a bit more. I know in the books hes something of a background character and is only mentioned in the context of Quidditch, but he may just have an impact on a few characters plots. Who knows, he might be pining over a certain character ;)


	28. A Due Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The Easter holidays loom closer, and Madam Pomfrey's Healing lessons get ramped up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random question: Who else would love it if I made an Amelia/Theodore song playlist on Spotify? I've seen it done with other ships, where you compile songs in a playlist that you think suit the couple and what not. I think it'd be pretty cute not gonna lie.

History of Magic that Monday morning couldn’t have been more sleep-inducing if it tried. Binns had finally stopped talking about the Werewolf Code of Conduct of 1637 after two weeks of droning on about it, and instead moved on to speak about the International Warlock Convention of 1289. Harry was determined to block out the ghost's voice as he scribbled down notes from his textbook about the topic, Amelia, Hermione and Dorea doing the same. Harry had long thought that Binn’s classes could be used as a great method to cure insomnia. Professor Binns even fell asleep at the end of the first period, meaning that that class was sat confused for the first few minutes of the second period. “Has he actually fallen asleep?” Justin asked.

“Must’ve forgotten that this is a double period, not a singular one.” Dean said.

“Gosh, what a pathetic excuse of a teacher.” Zacharias Smith tutted. Harry thought that Zach sounded a bit too Malfoy-esque for his liking. 

Only a chunk of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class actually continued doing work, whilst the others treated it like a free period and just sat talking. Harry noted down the last page in the textbook regarding the topic of the Warlock Convention before gladly setting his quill down, his work for that period finished. He hadn’t even noticed that Ron had fallen asleep next to him. He carefully turned in his chair to speak to the others. “What are you doing now?” He asked them, stifling a yawn.

“I’m actually going to go along to Babbling’s class, see if she’s free, and ask her a question regarding one of the translations in the homework.” Hermione said.

“Hermione Granger skiving off a class? Well I never!” Dorea gasped and faked a look of shock. Amelia and Harry giggled.

“Well there’s really no point in staying here, is there? I’ve taken notes regarding the topic, and even answered a few of the questions in the textbook, so I’m all done regarding History.” Hermione reasoned.

“I see what you mean.” Harry said. Hermione packed up and left a minute later.

“Mind swapping seats with Harry, Dorea? I’ve got something to tell him.” Amelia said.

“Oh, sure.” Dorea said, and Harry, though confused, swapped places with her so that he was now sitting in Dorea’s seat.

“What’s up?” Harry asked his twin.

“Adrian Pucey wants to join the DA.” Amelia replied. “He came up to me this morning, and I said I’ll have to ask you. He knows that he’s really late in joining, but reckons he could be able to catch up.”

He was surprised. Adrian Pucey was a pure-blood Slytherin, and a Chaser on his house’s Quidditch team. Though the boy didn’t seem to be a part of the group that Malfoy kept company with, he did seem to be pretty well acquainted with the boy. Now that he thought about it, Pucey seemed to be pretty quiet and reserved, yet at the same time he seemed quite opinionated. He’d ask either Blaise, Theo or Barnaby about him later. “Oh, that’s certainly a bit of a decision for him to make.”

Amelia agreed. “He came across as honest. Plus, he’s in his sixth year, I think he already knows how to cast the spells you taught us all before Christmas, so he shouldn’t really have any problems catching up. He’s just got to learn how to cast his Patronus and how to duel.”

He nodded at that logic. “Yeah, definitely. I wonder if it would be possible to meet him for a one-on-one session in a classroom or something and just get him to perform all the spells he learned, and then have him join the DA.”

His twin looked at him. “That sounds like a plan. Though he said he can’t be seen talking to you - Montague would kick him off the Slytherin team, so you’ll have to find him when he’s alone.”

“I wonder what class he’s in right now…” He pondered, trying to have a think. He knew that Cho Chang and Katie Bell were in Transfiguration right now, but would Adrian also be in that class? A thought came to him then. “You know what? I might go and see if I can find him.”

“What, right now?” Amelia raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes,” he answered, “there’s a chance he could have a free period.”

“What if he’s in a class?”

“I’ll gesture to him.” He said simply. Amelia looked very skeptical, but waved him on his way.

He left his bag in the class, since he knew he’d be back before the end of the double anyway, but took his wand. He started his hunt for Adrian Pucey in earnest; he figured he could start on the ground floor and work his way up. He wished he’d brought the Marauder’s Map with him though, in case he ran into any teachers. 

Peeking through the window of every door, he had no luck. He knew that Classroom 11 was virtually unused, so found it unlikely there would be a lesson held in there. He felt like he’d walked a marathon by the time he got over to the side where the Herbology greenhouses were, but when he peeked through all three he had no luck; there was only a second year class in there.

He had to be careful going about the first floor, for when he walked past the Defence classroom and peeked in, Remus had almost spotted him. He quickly walked away, but thankfully didn’t hear the door open or his name being called. Harry glanced in the Muggle Studies classroom, even though he knew it extremely unlikely that a pureblood like Pucey would ever take the class. When he walked past, Professor Burbage was teaching a fourth year Slytherin and Ravenclaw class. He was sure he saw Astoria and Liz, but couldn’t be too sure.

His search of the second floor was also unsuccessful, and he kept watching the time nervously. There was still thirty-five minutes of the period left to go, but he only had that amount of time to search the remaining five floors of the school. He had to get a move on.

He was making his way back up the Charms corridor when he chanced a peek into Flitwick’s classroom - it looked like it was either a sixth or seventh year NEWT class, but he only spotted one Senior DA member in there - Angelina. 

“Er, are you okay Potter?” He heard a female voice say from behind him.

He whizzed around, and saw Marietta Edgecombe and another Ravenclaw girl. They were eying him with a look of distaste. Though Marietta was a DA member, she didn’t like Harry that much (especially after the Francis Selwyn incident) and only went along to appease Cho, probably. “Oh, sorry,” he said, but as they went to move forward an idea sprang to his mind, “wait, before you go in, is there a boy called Adrian Pucey in your Charms class?”

The two girls looked to one another. Marietta answered. “Yes.”

“Could you do me a favour? Could you whisper to him that I’d like a word with him right now?”

Marietta looked at him suspiciously. “Erm, okay, but why?”

“He’ll know what I want to talk to him about, don’t worry.” He said.

“Uh, okay.” Marietta said, and he moved aside so they could go back into the class. He waited for a minute or so before he heard the class go silent. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but he heard Flitwick say, “Of course you can, Pucey, but don’t be too long.”

Harry straightened up as he saw the classroom door open, and Adrian Pucey shut it behind him. “Hello,” Harry said a bit awkwardly.

Pucey moved over to where he was standing in the corridor. “Don’t you have a class right now, Potter?” The boy looked amused.

“History of Magic, double period. Binns fell asleep at the start of the second period though, so we’re all skiving off.” He said.

“Fair enough,” the boy said. “I’m guessing your sister told you then.”

“She did,” he replied, “and I think you’d be able to join the DA. I actually have a list of spells here that we’ve all covered up until now.” He handed Adrian the list. “Can you do most of them already?”

Pucey scanned the parchment paper of spells they had learned so far. “I’ve done everything except the Patronus and duelling scenarios. My  _ Protego  _ isn’t the best, but I can do it. My Hex-Deflection could do with a bit of work.”

“Even so, we can work on that. I actually have a proposal so you can go about this.” Harry said.

Pucey looked at him. “I’m listening.”

“It would make most sense for you to come along to the sessions but whilst everyone else is doing their thing, you could have a little one-to-one with either me or Flitwick to catch you up. We can get the big things - such as the Patronus and Duelling skills, mastered for you first and then you can work on the little niggly problems. That way, you get the hard stuff under your belt quickly.” He explained.

Pucey even smiled. “That sounds good! I didn’t know Professor Flitwick attended the DA?”

“He’s my referee of sorts, and is there to give more qualified advice.” Harry responded.

Harry summoned the sign-up parchment and gave it to Pucey to sign. The parchment didn’t reject him, so Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He had wondered if Pucey was a spy for someone like Draco, or even Voldemort.

Pucey really had to go back into class then, as Flitwick would likely wonder what was keeping him (Adrian had said that he was going to the toilet, only a floor down), so Harry said a slightly awkward farewell. 

When he got back to History, Binns was still asleep - as were half the class. Ernie was frantically studying what looked to be a chart of Neptune. There was still fifteen minutes of class left. Carefully sitting back down, he thought there was no point in doing any revision, and he couldn’t speak that loud else risk people waking up. When the bell rang for the morning interval, Harry was almost falling asleep himself.

Harry went out to the courtyard with Hermione, Amelia, Dorea and a freshly-woken Ron. Hermione was busy telling Ron off for sleeping during the class instead of doing something productive, like note-taking, and claimed how Ron was never going to pass his OWL in History of Magic. Harry just chuckled as he watched them bickering like an old married couple. 

They had Potions after break, and Snape had told them last week they were going to be brewing either Everlasting Elixirs or an Erumpent Potion. They were almost done brewing every Potion covered at OWL level, as a matter of fact, and after Easter they would be focussing on theory of certain Potion ingredients and brewing everything again. Harry was prepared either way - both he, Amelia and Dorea had brewed all the fifth year Potions at Black Manor. 

With five minutes of morning interval left, they were about to head to the dungeons when Daphne and Anthony approached them. “Anthony’s just thought of the most brilliant idea, Harry!” Daphne claimed brightly.

Goldstein blushed. “Well, not really, it was just a thought.”

“Go on then, tell us!” Ron ushered.

“Well, I was thinking… After Easter, there’s only just over six or seven weeks until our OWL exams. I thought that, possibly, different study groups for each subject could be set up… by us?” Anthony explained.

The five of them were intrigued. “Do tell us more.”

“Well, I was thinking… Say if there was a Herbology study group - we all know who would be likely to lead it.”

“Neville, and maybe Hannah too,” Hermione said instantly.

“Yeah,” Anthony agreed, “they would chair that group, and together lead it. People could go to their sessions and ask for all sorts of help regarding Herbology - practical stuff, theory stuff, all that. They’d be the go-to people - if they agreed to lead that group, of course. Then with other subjects - I’d happily lead any, but my strong points are Ancient Runes, Transfiguration and Arithmancy, so either of them would be mine. I could lead either of those with someone like Sue or Lisa.”

“I’m just thinking - Blaise would be ideal to lead a Potions group.” Amelia said.

“Lisa and Tracey are good at Transfiguration,” Dorea added.

“Lavender and Parvati can have Divination - though I doubt anyone would willingly want to study for it.” Ron said, causing them to laugh a bit.

“I really like the idea of study groups,” Harry said, “I already lead the DA, so Defence can be my group.”

“I’d be happy to lead the Muggle Studies group, though it's very easy.” Daphne said.

“Who’s a good choice for Charms?” Anthony wondered.

“Dean or Padma, definitely.” Hermione responded. 

“Of course, if anyone else in our year wants to lead one they can. It would still work with multiple leaders. The sixth and seventh years could do the same thing but for their NEWTs.” Anthony concluded.

“Definitely,” Hermione nodded, “I think we should start planning study groups. We all felt how quickly January went; June will be here in no time at all. We need to start studying anyway, if we’re to pass with high enough marks.”

They had to get going then, for the bell rang to signal that the morning interval was over. Anthony went up the stairs to go to Defence whilst Daphne remained with them to head to Potions. The elder Greengrass sister linked arms with Hermione and Amelia and stuck close to Dorea as they shuffled amongst the crowd of students trying to get to their next classes.

That double period of Potions went pretty well in respect of the potion itself; Snape had said they were brewing the Erumpent Potion and left them to it, like usual. It was a particularly dangerous Potion, since it was explosive and pretty flammable once completed. Daphne was sitting at their table again, due to her falling out with Pansy and Millicent, and Tracey soon filtered over to be near them too. 

Just as most of the class were in the latter stages of completing their Erumpent Potion, Snape started growling through gritted teeth and charged over to the Slytherin boy’s desk, where an accident was clearly about to happen. Goyle’s potion seemed to be the problem - even Draco had snapped, saying: “Goyle, you idiot!”

The boys Potion had started sprouting both odour and fumes. The bottom of the cauldron was also about to give out and melt. Blaise and Theo were very quickly out of their seats and standing far away from the disaster. It was clear that the botched Erumpent Potion was seconds away from exploding. 

“CLASS DISMISSED!” Snape all but bellowed, wand out and trying to stem the potion's inevitable destruction. “Note down where you got up to, for I will pause all of your potions and we will continue them on Thursday.  _ Now get out! _ ”

The class scrambled to get all their stuff either into their bags or stacked in their arms. They left the classroom just before a slight bang sound was heard. Hermione hit Ron over the head with her textbook when he wished that the classroom would burn down and take Snape with it.

It was half an hour until lunch time, so the five of them collectively decided to just head to the Great Hall early. There were only a few groups of people in there already, mainly seventh years who had free periods. When they sat down at Gryffindor table, Blaise, Theo, Daphne and Tracey soon joined them. 

“What on earth even happened?” Dorea asked.

“Goyle, like the stupid git that he is, added the Exploding Fluid three steps too soon.” Theo answered quietly, as the boy in question was theoretically licking his wounds over at the Slytherin table with Draco and Crabbe.

“What an idiot,” Tracey mumbled.

Daphne told her Slytherin friends all about what they’d discussed during morning break - the study groups. Blaise sounded very interested, and almost at once offered to lead the Potions group, just as they had guessed. Theo offered to lead it with him and said he could help with the theory side of things whilst Blaise could aid with the more practical side. Tracey said that either Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures were her strong points and she wouldn’t mind starting up either one. 

When the bell did ring for lunch, everyone started filtering into the Hall. More of their DA fifth year friends came to sit with them at Gryffindor table, and they started telling them about the idea of the study groups too. Most of them seemed very enthusiastic about the idea, though there was a bit of a confusion regarding the group leaders. In order to make it fair, Dorea got a piece of parchment and wrote down everything, so it was crystal clear. It read, in the end:

_ “ _ **_OWL STUDY GROUP LEADERS_ **

_ Charms - Padma, Seamus _

_ Transfiguration - Hermione, Sue,  _

_ Herbology - Neville, Wayne _

_ Potions - Blaise, Theodore _

_ Ancient Runes - Amelia, Dorea _

_ Arithmancy - Anthony, Susan _

_ Care of Magical Creatures - Tracey, Megan _

_ Astronomy - Ernie, Justin _

_ Muggle Studies - Dean, Daphne _

_ Divination - Lavender, Parvati _

_ History of Magic - Lisa, Terry _

_ Healing - Hannah, Mandy _

_ Defence Against the Dark Arts - Harry” _

Harry was perfectly happy leading the Defence group on his own; after all, he already led a Defence-centred club and did that with ease nowadays. The only hard thing would be to organise what days all these study groups were running and at what time. That was going to be pretty difficult considering there were so many subjects, and a lot of people had things such as evening/midnight Astronomy classes, DA meetings, Prefect duties, personal study and extracurricular meetings such as Quidditch to take into account. It was not going to be easy, that was for sure. Some people such as Anthony, Padma and Parvati were staying at school for Easter break since they didn’t celebrate the holiday, and they figured they could hold sessions during the holiday since nobody would have classes. That was definitely a possibility, and ended in a few people such as Seamus and Justin drafting up letters to their parents explaining they were staying the two week Easter break at Hogwarts. 

They were so busy trying to plan time schedules for the sessions that it was soon ten minutes until fifth period, and they’d almost forgotten about eating. Wolfing down soups, sandwiches and scones, along with their drinks, was now their top priority. Even when the bell rang some were still eating as they walked with the scrum of people leaving the Great Hall.

Fifth period was Ancient Runes, and Professor Babbling was starting the last topic of the OWL curriculum with them: the theory behind carving Runes. They were pretty excited to start it, as it sounded interesting, though they would not physically start carving until NEWT level as it was very tricky to do. Carving alone sounded that good that Harry willed himself to do well in the OWL exam so he could advance next year.

That period was also spent learning about Reactivation and Deactivation Spells, which were used once runes were carved to either start them up or to end them. By the end of the lesson, Harry had almost two pages of notes. At the end of the period, Babbling even held him back for a minute or so to say how impressed she was at his progress and commitment to the subject, which pleased him a lot. Double Defence at the end of the day was also a productive period, as they learned a very handy spell in  _ Cave Inimicum, _ which could be used for all sorts of tactics. Harry thought it would be brilliant to use sneaking up on someone during an Auror mission, especially if the person had to be arrested. They would have no clue that you were there. 

On Tuesday after dinner, Harry trekked to the dungeons to have his usual Occlumency lesson with Snape. He was feeling slightly better about it this time - the book Susan had given him was full of really easy exercises to clear your mind and to keep your shield up, and he’d been practising every night. The shield around his mind was getting stronger by the day as well; though he wanted Susan to test it again at some point, it was likely going to take a beating with Snape.

He did want to tell Professor Snape about the fact Susan was now teaching him Occlumency, but fumbled and didn’t in the end. Back in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, the Potions master had all but demanded him not to say to anyone that he was studying the obscure magic. The man was sure to get a shock once he saw the shield, though…

“Hurry up, Potter,” the man all but barked the second Harry crossed the threshold between corridor and classroom. The man was in a stinking mood tonight.

“I don't even know why we even bother to continue with these lessons, since you clearly have long stopped making any effort to better your efforts, but we go again nonetheless.” Snape muttered, sneering in Harry’s direction.

_ Little do you know,  _ Harry thought.

“On three. One, two, three..  _ Legilimens!” _

Harry was pulled into a place where he had a view of both his mind and shield, and felt himself smirk when he saw the spell barrel towards it and come to an abrupt halt. His glee didn’t last long, however, as he was pulled out of that state by Snape. Within seconds, the man stormed towards him and grabbed him by the collar. “How have you managed to do that, Potter?” The man snarled. “How have you managed to form an Occlumency shield around your mind, hmm?  _ Answer me!” _

Harry flinched when he raised his voice near the end. “I’ve been doing a spot of reading regarding Occlumency,” he said, trying to sound sincere.

Snape eyed him untrustingly. “That does not explain why you have a near impenetrable shield! There is no way you have mastered this art on your own, Potter. You have clearly told someone about how you’re learning the subject and they’ve helped somehow.”

He gulped. “I enlisted the help of a close and knowledgeable friend.”

Snape rounded on him again. “Who?”

“Susan Bones.” He said, straightening up. 

Severus Snape’s anger flared again. “Miss Bones is hardly capable of even knowing about the subject of Occlumency. You  _ insipid _ boy, do you know how much you’ve now endangered her and her family? The Dark Lord will no doubt try and hunt the Bones family at some point, and most likely try and kill the rest of them!”

“Susan is a proficient Occlumens, sir, believe it or not.” Harry countered, more calmly. “Minister Bones had the family learn it during the summer to prevent more tragedies, Susan told me herself.”

Snape’s nostrils flared. “Even so, it was completely irresponsible of you.”

“Just why are you angry, Professor?” Harry asked, a bit terse.

“I beg your pardon?” Snape snapped.

“Why are you so angry that I’ve managed to learn how to shield my mind? So what if I didn’t tell you I was learning it in my spare time, big deal, - in fact, it shows that I am utterly committed to learning Occlumency more than anything else!” He tried to speak calmly. “You can’t get angry at me for ‘not trying’, and then berate me even more when I do try! It’s quite hypocritical, if I’m honest-”

Snape had heard enough. He rounded close to his face again. “You have no right,  _ no right _ , to call me hypocritical, Potter.”

He shot the Potions master a filthy look.  _ Falling back and insulting me instead of actually standing up for himself, what a prat. _ He thought. “It’s just a bit strange, sir, that’s all.”

Snape let go of him, though you could tell that the man wanted nothing more than to throttle him. When the man’s back was turned he even smirked. 

“Since you have finally ‘tried’ to learn the art of Occlumency, Potter, and you can clearly resist mind penetration, I do not see a need for you to be here.”

Harry almost asked him to repeat himself - was this the end of their Occlumency lessons? He could have jumped for joy. “Sir?”

“Did you not hear me? You have learned how to shield your mind from invaders, and dare I say very well, so there is no need for our Tuesday sessions to continue. I’m sure you’re as delighted as I am.” Snape said slowly.

Something came to him then. “But Susan said that Occlumency is a lot more than just shielding your mind… she mentioned memory stores-”

“-which you have no doubt already started learning without my tuition.” his teacher replied. 

“Well, she gave me a book to read about it, but that’s it.” Harry then paused. “What do  _ you  _ know about memory stores, Professor?”

Snape was clearly a bit taken aback by Harry’s sincere sounding question. He didn’t speak for a few moments. “That they’re more difficult to perform. It involves selecting a memory, thinking of it once, and then sealing it away behind a door-like pocket in your mind.”

Harry didn’t like the sound of that particularly. “I think I’ll wait a while before I attempt that.”

Snape seemed to agree with him in that regard, but then went back to being horrible. “Well, you clearly know what to do and what to practise. Now get out.”

Picking up his bag almost too joyfully, Harry made for the door. His Tuesday evenings were now totally free up! He uttered a thanks to Snape, yet when he turned around the man was facing what looked to be Dumbledore’s pensieve. He saw him extract memories from the basin of it, but didn’t really question it. With that, Harry exited the office for the last time.

* * *

In the Room of Requirement, meanwhile, Amelia was once again trying to get to grips with her wandless abilities. Theo was with her, and though he was mostly doing homework, he was giving her some encouragement.

“Urgh! This is so hard!” She complained after twenty minutes. She felt like crying - she couldn’t even perform  _ Wingardium Leviosa -  _ a first year spell, - wandlessly. That was surely embarrassing. 

“I’m not really qualified to say anything else except ‘keep at it’, babe.” Theo said, looking up from where he was sitting, quill feathers hanging near his mouth. 

She sighed. “This is my eighth attempt now! The inkpot hasn’t moved an inch horizontally, much less vertically!”

Theo came over. “Maybe you need something lighter? How about a spare quill?”

She considered. “Perhaps.”

He handed her one of his, and Amelia took some deep breaths.  _ If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll move on to another spell,  _ she thought. Readying herself, she prepared. Concentrating all her energy on saying the spell in her head, she stared at the quill, willing it to start floating.

After five minutes she really thought she was getting nowhere and almost gave up, but then it happened.

Amelia felt a wave of magic pulse through her arm and out of her hand. She didn’t dare tear her concentration away now - it would be a failure. She couldn’t help but squeal as she watched the quill levitating a good metre in the air.

“See! I told you you’d do it!” Theo complimented.

Satisfied, she broke her concentration and let the quill fall back down. “That was a bit easier. There’s still the rest of the first to fifth year curriculum to go though.”

“I reckon you’ll get it mastered in no time. It’s strange how the library doesn’t have books on wandless magic.” Theo said.

“If in doubt, there’s always the library back at Black Manor.” She replied, smiling. “And there’s always Easter break.”

“I don’t know about you, babe, but I’ll probably spend Easter revising.” Theo inclined his head, “I do want good marks, after all.”

“So do I, but there’s still plenty of time until June even after the holidays.” She said, “And there's the advantage of having the time delay feature here when we get back, so we could do eight hours of study in one sitting if we’re careful.”

“I suppose,” her boyfriend said, going over to check the clocks. “Will we stay for half an hour more and then get back to our common rooms?”

She nodded. Amelia felt the urge to start on a different spell then, so scanned her list and decided to work on the Knockback Jinx. She wheeled one of the dummies out but didn’t place it at any setting - she just wanted to practise on it. Her early attempts were pretty fruitless - nothing seemed to happen, but after ten minutes of internally screaming she got a result: she felt the magic leaving her in a cold sensation, and within seconds the dummy had wheeled back a good few feet. Theo had jumped. “Did you do it again?”

“Yup,” Amelia said, pleased. She checked the clocks, and realised they still had just over fifteen minutes left. “Since I’m on such a roll, I'll try and get another one mastered before we go.”

Scanning down the list again, she decided on the Severing Charm. She did a lap of the room to try and find something she could sever, and found a rope. Placing it in front of her, she sat back down and got to work.

Unsurprisingly, it took a bit longer. The clock let off a chime to remind them they had five minutes remaining, which didn’t help her confidence that much.  _ Come on,  _ her mind screamed,  _ you can do it! _

At literally the last second, the rope was slashed in half. Amelia breathed a sigh of relief, but found that her head was hurting a bit from all the concentration. Making to stand up, though, she suddenly felt very light-headed, and started seeing stars…   
“Woah, ‘melia!” She heard Theo say, and heard him moving quickly towards her. She had almost slumped to the floor when he caught her. “Jeez, you alright?”

“Yeah,” she groaned out, rubbing her eyes so that they’d come back into focus. “Stood up too quickly, that's all.”

Once her strength returned, she gradually stood up more straighter, though Theo, being the darling that he was, didn’t let go of her just in case. His hands on her hips were nice and warm. “Maybe you practised wandless magic a little too hard, and that's why you’re tired.” He said, looking into her eyes with slight concern. 

“Well, the back of my head does hurt a bit,” she said, but simply took her wand out and performed the Headache Reliever spell that Madam Pomfrey had taught the Healing lot, and found the pain dimming almost right away. She still felt a bit tired though, but reckoned she could just get an early night.

Theo, being the gentleman, walked her to Gryffindor Tower. As they neared it, Theo seemed to come to a halt. She looked back at him, “Theo?”

“I just realised something,” her boyfriend replied.

“What?” She wondered.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you ‘I love you’.”

Amelia looked at him weirdly. “Oh… Well, it’s not that big of a deal, Theo, I know that you love me already-”   
“-But it's taken me months!”

“It’s really not that bad, Theo, you show me that you love me every single day and for that I am grateful.” She insisted, as Theo looked extremely guilty.

He looked at her then. “Well, better late than never - I love you, Amelia Potter.”

Amelia couldn’t help the giddy feeling that came over her when he said that. He’d just said those three words that mean everything in a relationship to her. The way he was looking at her almost made her legs go jelly too.  _ He’s really all mine,  _ she thought. “I love you too, Theodore Nott.”

They spent seconds just staring at one another then, as if to really take in that they’d just declared their love for each other. They seemed to break out in smiles at the same time. “Oh, come here you,” she said joyfully, opening her arms. Theo gladly skipped forward and pulled her in for a hug. After a few spins, she pulled his face in for a kiss. It was filled with a bit more passion than any of their other ones, but still had the same level of adoration behind it.

Almost too soon, Theo pulled back, saying it was only a few minutes until curfew. Before he left, he did pull her in for one last peck on the lips, which left her giggling. She watched him walk away back down the corridor before telling the Fat Lady the password and stepping on through. 

She briefed Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dorea on what spells she had managed to cover wandlessly before heading on up to the dorm. She really was feeling drowsy..

Entering the fifth year girls dorm, she saw that Lavender must’ve been sleeping or studying, as she had the curtains drawn around her bed. Parvati looked like she was finishing up on some homework. “Evening, Amelia,” the second of the Patil twins yawned.

“Hello,” she replied, trying to stifle a yawn as well. “What’s up?”

“Just finished some Divination homework, I’m knackered now.” Parvati replied, getting off her bed.

She agreed with the latter part, saying how it had been a long day. Getting changed for bed, she said goodnight to Parvati before drawing the curtains around her bed. Concealed from view now, she couldn’t help but grin as she got into bed. Theo had said he loved her, and she had said it back. She had meant it as sincerely as he did.  _ I guess we’re pretty serious now,  _ Amelia thought,  _ we’re in love, after all. _ She wondered if her boyfriend, probably in his dorm, was thinking the same as her... Within ten minutes, Amelia had fallen asleep.

* * *

Harry had woken up slightly later on Tuesday morning, as he was the last of the boys up. Quickly putting the appropriate textbooks and notebooks into his bag, he got dressed and quickly headed down to breakfast.

When he entered the Great Hall behind some Hufflepuff seventh years, he was a bit confused when he noticed a good chunk of people from all houses staring at him. He wondered what rumour was spreading now - could Fudge or Umbridge be starting up their own smear campaigns against him, despite those two no longer being in their jobs? He thought it possible. Them two in particular were probably peeved about the recent attacks on muggles (which were almost certainly carried out by Death Eaters), and were wanting to get the public's attention off of that by giving them a juicy story. 

To be safe, he sat down at Gryffindor table beside his twin and across from Ron. Hermione was instantly cornering him. “Harry, haven’t you seen?”

“Seen what?”

“The new and improved  _ Daily Prophet _ , of course!” Hermione exclaimed, and shoved a copy down the table towards him. He grabbed it, and was drawn to a certain part of the newspaper which caught his eye. On the front page, his name was mentioned:  _ “A well-earned apology to Harry Potter - page ten.” _

Wondering what on earth this was all about, he flipped the paper open to the relevant page. What he read both shocked and touched him:

_ “ _ **_First Foreword from our new Chief Editor, Duncan Fawcett_ **

_ Now that we here at the Daily Prophet have all our new staff members in place, we find it apt in our new first edition to issue an apology to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. _

_ It’s very fair to say that the Prophet under Rita Skeeter was nothing short of embarrassing and diabolical in terms of journalism. Gossip in every edition, pure speculation in others, and reporting non-newsworthy stories only begins to cover it. It’s really no wonder that readers of The Quibbler increased almost four-fold. Even though the newspaper has since faced a dramatic overhaul of almost all its reporters and editors, we find it appropriate to make a few things crystal clear. _

_ The wizarding world is, in our opinion, about to face a Second Wizarding War. We do believe that Lord Voldemort has returned to a functioning human state, and is planning both a coup and a dictatorship that can only bring one thing to our society: Oppression.  _

_ We are not just saying these things because we are employees of Minister Bones - we all believe that these events are to occur.  _

_ So to Harry Potter we say this: We are very sorry for the bad name our predecessors tarnished you with. We believe every word you say - whether it’s regarding Voldemort’s return, what happened the night Cedric Diggory tragically died, everything. We will do everything in our power to report real news to wizarding Britain, and to tell the wizarding public everything they need to know, whether they like the truth or not. You have our utmost word on that. _

_ These are strange times we live in, yet we at the Daily Prophet all know that very soon, it will only get darker. You can count on us to be reporting everything as it happens - no corners cut, no information omitted deliberately, just true to the word. This apology can also be extended to Professor Albus Dumbledore; we have every faith in you as well, Headmaster, and we are all at your service to relay whatever people need to know. It may take time, but we will work around the clock to deliver up-to-date and accurate information in all of our departments. If you as a reader are saddened to hear that no more silly gossip is going to be printed - other publications, such as Witch Weekly, are available for you to fawn over.  _

_ To everyone else that is serious about current affairs: _

_ You  _ _ can  _ _ count on us.” _

Harry almost couldn’t believe it. The new  _ Prophet  _ now believed him?! This was surely great news - people would hopefully start switching sides now, or at least back him up.

“Hey, don’t the Fawcett’s live not far away from us?” Ron said, leaning forward to speak to Fred, George and Ginny, pulling Harry out of his state of wonder.

“That they do, Ronnikins,” George replied. “They appear to be on the right side, too.”

“Oh, this really is great!” Hermione looked thrilled still. “I might just resubscribe my membership!”

More people in school were becoming less hostile throughout the day. At morning interval, Fay Dunbar and her friend (who were both in Ginny’s year and were previously amongst those that believed Harry and Dumbledore to be raving lunatics), had come over and declared they were wrong to believe Rita Skeeter and Cornelius Fudge. Harry accepted their apologies fervently, saying how it was very easy to be manipulated by folks in positions of power. At lunch, Marietta Edgecombe and a few sixth and seventh year Ravenclaw girls came over and said the same; saying they had to go along with the words Fudge had printed in the press so that their parents didn’t lose their jobs. He brushed off their worries and said it was all okay now. He was surprised at dinner when both Andre Egwu and none other than Skye Parkin approached him and asked for a word with him alone. 

When they had gotten to the Entrance Hall, they both said that they were now ardent supporters of Dumbledore and Harry both and said how stupid they were all along. The two of them even expressed wishes to join the DA. He let them join, and the two of them signed their names. He gave them a parchment each of spells they’d already covered in the Junior group and told them to come along to the Junior session next Monday to see which group they’d best fit.

Andre agreed, and said he’d see him there before heading back to dinner. Skye Parkin stayed with Harry a bit longer though. “Better late joining than never,” the Scottish girl remarked, grinning.

“Yeah, I suppose,” he said back.

“My dad believes you as well in this whole regard - well, he always did, but he was politely reminded to keep quiet about it.” Skye added.

He perked up at that. “I’m honoured that the legendary Ethan Parkin believes me. How is it that he wasn’t allowed to express his opinion?”

“Since he’s a professional sports player, it would be considered ‘ _ silly of him to be speaking about political matters _ ’, according to the regulators.” Skye said.

Harry could definitely see that happening - in muggle sports, athletes were usually told off by both reporters and the general public for speaking their mind openly regarding any world issues, so he figured it was much the same for the wizarding world. He still felt thrilled that one of Britain’s Quidditch ace’s, and his daughter, were firmly behind him though. He might even start mildly supporting Wigtown Wanderers…

They walked back into the Hall together, and just before they departed, he nudged his new acquaintance. “Good luck playing Slytherin in March.”

She smiled. “Cheers, Harry. I’m afraid even I will need all the luck I can get. Who knows, if we score more than 400, me and you might even be playing against one another in the Quidditch Cup Final in April.”

He smirked playfully. “Gonna need more than luck.”

Skye faked a look of horror, but then nudged him back. Giggling, she went back to Ravenclaw table. “I’ll see you on Monday, Potter.”

Satisfied that he had two new members signing up to the DA mere hours after the  _ Daily Prophet’s  _ apology to him broke, he sat back down with his siblings and friends. He was content that more and more people were flocking to his side rather than Voldemort’s, yet there was still work to be done.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	29. A Shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: A bit more drama, and the Easter holidays finally arrive. Plus, Barnaby Lee has something to tell Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't updated in like, over a week, and I'm so sorry about that. i started a new job, and I have many 5am starts (the joys) meaning I spend the afternoons sleeping. However, my contracted days are a bit less now so I have more time to write! Plus, my college course is starting up next week but the good thing is its 100% remote learning this year, so thats even more good.

The rest of February soon rolled into March, and Angelina resumed Quidditch practise for the Gryffindor team the first March weekend. Their captain had given them a three-week break from practise, simply because her, Alicia, Fred and George had been swamped on the NEWT front. Angelina and Alicia in particular had scored a mixture of O’s, E’s and A’s in their mocks, and had been pretty stressed regarding the A’s as they’d gotten them in Potions and Transfiguration - subjects they needed at least an E in to land them their jobs. They’d been studying non-stop since the mocks, and after some class tests, were happy to get back to practising once it was revealed they’d done loads better, receiving E’s. Angelina had also halted their practises due to the fact that Gryffindor weren’t playing another game of Quidditch until the end of March anyway.

Angelina worked them triply hard to make up for the time they’d missed, though. By the end of practise, Ginny had a strained neck, Fred a pulled bicep muscle, and Ron’s fingers had taken a beating (even with his Keeper gloves on) with all the quaffles being aimed at him. Katie was back on the team as well, but even though Dorea had been demoted to a Reserve Chaser again, it didn’t mean she was exempt from being worked either. The whole team either limped or hobbled back to the changing rooms once the practise was done, eager to get into the showers and then bed. They were going to be sore in the morning, that was for sure.

Amelia was feeling pretty worn out by the morning, even after eight hours of sleep. So much so that at breakfast, she asked her twin if he still had any Wiggenweld Potions in his satchel. Luckily, he had one vial left, so she downed it in earnest; it didn’t even taste all that bad in the moment. She could already feel it nulling the pain.

They’d reached a point in their classes where the professors were giving them both written and practical tests constantly. Professor McGonagall in particular - she would give them the whole double period on Tuesday to work individually through written papers she’d compiled herself, and on the Wednesday period they would get their results back and talk through the paper. Amelia felt a bit crap that she’d only been five marks off an E, but Professor McGonagall told her not to worry - it turned out half the class had gotten A’s as well. Hermione, being brilliant, had been seven marks off an O. Sprout had done the same thing in Herbology, and Neville had received his first O in anything. 

The OWL study groups had also partially kickstarted - everyone had managed to be free on the first Sunday in March, so that time was dedicated to Charms, led by Padma and Seamus. Most of the fifth years (barring Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Millicent obviously) came along to Classroom 11 to revise. Though Seamus was something of a class clown, he was pretty good at explaining things and never talked over Padma, who was very underrated in terms of the subject. By the end of the session, everyone had gone through the OWL Charms curriculum with ease; Padma said that next session she would try to ask Professor Flitiwck if there were any copies of previous years exam papers they could use to go through the theory stuff. 

Slowly, other groups had started up too. Neville and Wayne started up Herbology on Friday evenings after dinner, which had good attendance. Harry had just decided to incorporate his Defence study group into the DA to make things easier, which was a wise decision. The Senior group would spend half the session working on their duels and spend the other half just doing their own thing; though the fifth year members were all soon gathering on one side of the Room to revise Defence both theoretically and practically. The NEWT students soon picked up on study sessions too - though their groups ran at different times for obvious reasons.

The teachers in particular were very surprised but delighted that study groups had started making an appearance. It certainly took a bit of work off their shoulders. For the most part, they felt nothing short of glad that students were mixing and mingling, helping to better both themselves and their friends in their subjects. You could even say they were proud of them for taking the initiative.

Amelia also spent the weekend evenings working on her wandless abilities, which normally involved either Theo, Harry or Dorea accompanying her. When Dorea came along with her, her godsister usually spent the time reading up on wandlore whilst she practised. As the weeks progressed, she kept getting better, - she had now mastered all of the first-year Charms wandlessly (except for Lumos, obviously) and moved on to Transfiguration spells, though she did mix it up some days and include some first-year Defence Against the Dark Arts spells too. The time delay clocks were a godsend, truly.

During the second week of March, a notice went up on the bulletin board in the common room. It stated that all fifth years were required to attend a one-on-one session with their Head of House before Easter to discuss careers. On the sheet of paper also detailed the pre-scheduled times the Gryffindor fifth years were expected to go and see Professor McGonagall. Amelia’s was on the Friday exactly two weeks before they broke up for Easter, at three, whilst Harry’s was the same week but on a Monday. Dorea’s, Ron’s and Hermione’s were all the week before, as was Lavender’s. 

As a result, loads of different pamphlets and leaflets containing career information were available in multiple copies for them to read at their leisure before then. “I don’t fancy Healing that much,” Seamus said fervently, “They want at least E’s at NEWT level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence. Gosh, they really want a lot, don’t they?”

“Well, it's a very hands-on and responsible job.” Parvati commented, sifting through a leaflet that had “ _ HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO HARVEST HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER WAND WOOD?”  _ emboldened on the front of it.

“Blimey, my dad’s job isn’t really asking for much, listen to this:  _ ‘All we want from you is an E or above in OWL Muggle Studies, but much more important is your enthusiasm, acceptance and good sense of humour!”  _ Ron said, reading the Muggle Relations leaflet.

Amelia herself was skimming through a leaflet produced by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. All they were looking for were passing grade OWLs in Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Defence. Though she loved studying Creatures, she hadn’t really considered it as a career; in fact, thinking about her future job hadn’t really crossed her mind at all. She came to a conclusion that there wasn’t really any rush - she could just take loads of different subjects so she had qualifications that were sought after in a lot of fields and make a decision from there: sort of a foot in every camp, all bases covered scenario. Harry and Dorea were thinking the same - in fact, only a few people in their year had an official idea of what they wanted to do. 

“What does Curse-Breaking entail?” Dean voiced.

“Ooh, my brother Bill does that!” Ron was all too pleased to explain. “It’s mostly breaking, countering or removing curses placed on either objects or places. You’ve got to be good at Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, though. He gets to travel the world, it sounds amazing! We went to see him when he was deployed to Egypt one time-”

She hadn’t heard the rest, electing to just read. Amelia took a copy of each information leaflet and stored them neatly away in her bag for future reference. She knew that either Sirius or Remus were probably going to ask them during the Easter holidays what career they were hoping to pursue, but she knew they really wouldn’t mind if they told them they didn’t really know yet. There were still two more years of school to go.  _ Aye, and a war to win. _

* * *

As they were getting towards the end of the Healing short-course, Madam Pomfrey really got them doing the nitty-gritty stuff. Even though the Matron said before that in order for them to practise healing breaks and fractures they would be practising on consenting seventh year students, that had gone out the window - for instead they were going to be practising on an all-new simulator, approved by St Mungo’s at the start of the year. It mimicked a human, but with one wave of a wand it could go from having a sprained wrist to a broken thigh bone. As predicted, a lot of people had gotten grossed out at it, but they would have to stomach it. After all, they knew before signing up that the course would entail this sort of thing, they’d had ages to prepare.

Harry did feel squeamish looking at the broken bone which was almost poking through the skin of the simulation-human, but he was better at stomaching it than others. One of Pansy Parkinson’s friends had gagged at the sight of it when it was her turn to practise on it, and chickened out. Even Hannah, Daphne and Mandy - three people who were determined to become Healers, - pulled a face at the sight of seeing a broken bone likely for the first time. Madam Pomfrey was getting a bit exasperated, you could tell.

“Mr Potter, why don’t you try?” the woman said, although she said it more as a demand than a question. He gulped, and went over.

Up close, he did quickly look away from it a few times, as if that would make it any less gross to look at. However, he was going to do it.  _ This is everyday stuff for Healers,  _ he thought,  _ if I do decide to pursue it as a career, I need to get my act together. _

“Now, hold your wand near the break… that’s it, good. Stop shaking, that could make the spell go wrong. Now, on three, cast  _ Brackium Emendo.”  _ The Matron instructed.

He remembered when Professor Lockhart had used this spell on him in second year, when he’d been injured in Quidditch. It was a rather distasteful memory - the man hadn’t healed his broken bones, he’d miscast it and vanished them instead. He swore he could still taste the Skele-Gro to this day… or maybe that was just bile.

Harry wanted to get it right though, so pushed that memory aside. “ _ Brackium Emendo!” _

Just like that, the bone was no longer dislodged: a slightly horrible clicking sound could be heard as he watched the bone fix itself back into place. It was only a momentary sound, though. Madam Pomfrey looked very pleased. “Excellent work! I’d say that was near perfect!”

He thanked her, and went back over to his friends. “It’s really not that bad, guys,” he said as a bit of an encouragement, “just cast the spell and you no longer have to look at it.”

Eventually the rest of them got through it, though they went ten minutes overtime due to the more over dramatic ones being that bit more reluctant - Millicent Bulstrode claimed she was going to faint. Madam Pomfrey was a no-nonsense person, and told them to suck it up and just do the spell as they were holding everyone back. Once that was finally over and done with, she assigned them an essay to do - regarding the  _ Brackium Emendo  _ spell, its uses and limitations, advantages and disadvantages, and its possible side effects due for their next session. Then she let them go.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Hermione said as they neared the common room. “After all, if any of us are to be Healers, it's good to get that type of experience in beforehand.”

“ _ Wasn’t so bad?”  _ Lavender said in disbelief, “it was  _ awful!  _ I wouldn’t have minded it if the bone wasn’t almost protruding out of the skin, but that made me feel light-headed.”

“I bet we’ll have to prove we can fix a bone in the practical test,” Parvati realised, “oh no… We’ll be under pressure as well!”

Harry had almost forgotten there was also going to be tests of some sort for the Healing lessons. He wondered if they were going to be held before the OWLs or towards the end of the exam period. He made a mental note to ask Madam Pomfrey before the next lesson in two weeks time. If they were to be held before June - he would really need to start revision for it. Even though it wasn’t an official course, just an extracurricular one, he wanted to do really well in it.

As the days rattled by and got closer and closer to Easter holidays, Harry was beginning to feel worn out. He was sure that he was spending a bit too much time using the time-delay feature in the Room of Requirement - for he’d go to classes yawning. He’d almost cocked up in Potions one day brewing an Everlasting Elixir, but managed to check himself before any damage could be done. One Saturday, he’d accepted an invitation from Blaise and Theo (though Barnaby Lee and Neville came along too) to brew in Dungeon Five. It felt like he’d been yawning every few minutes; he decided to cut down the time he spent in the Room, for the sake of his body clock. It was either that or shorten the time he extended.

He was getting started on the Draught of Peace; which they hadn’t brewed since the start of term. Barnaby, being a fourth year, was getting started on Weedosoros whilst Neville decided to brew an Invigoration Draught. Theodore and Blaise were working through potions that they thought most likely to come up in the OWL exam, and were brewing them without the instructions in front of them. Harry was powdering his moonstone when he noticed Blaise and Theo were looking like they wanted to say something. “What’s up?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Oh, well…” Theo started.

“Nah, I’ll tell him mate,” Blaise cut in. Harry wondered where on earth this was going. “There’s something I need to ask.”

“Go on,” he urged.

Blaise Zabini took a deep breath. “Well, y’know how Theo was forbidden to return to his house before Christmas? I’m kind of going through the same.”

Harry was startled. He certainly didn’t feel tired anymore - that piece of information woke him right up. So much so he paused his cauldron, as he had a feeling there was a story about to be told. “You’ve also been kicked out of your house?”

Blaise nodded. “To make a long story short - my mum is currently dating a marked Death Eater, called Richard. Very tall bloke. Anyway, he moved in last April, and since then I’ve practically been barricaded within my bedroom. I went down the day before we went back in January to make myself a drink, and they both sat at the counter. My mum turns to me and says that she and Richard want me to take the Dark Mark when I turn sixteen. Obviously not gonna happen, just clarifying. I say no, and they go mental, mate. Ballistic. I had enough - I barged past them to go up to my room, and without even thinking I just packed my stuff. Everything that I could fit in my trunk. I literally slammed the door in their face, walked out, got the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron and got an overnight room. Then the next day is obviously back to school, so I just Floo to the station. Not been back, and don’t plan on it. They’ve been hurling abuse at me every week since, in letters. I suspect one day they’ll send a Howler.”

Listening to Blaise explain all of that very quickly had proper woken Harry up. Even Neville and Barnaby were looking shocked. It was a good thing they were the only ones in the room.

“That’s awful!” Neville exclaimed, taking the words out of Harry’s mouth.

Harry couldn’t help but compare it to his own home life when he and Amelia were still living at the Dursleys - walking on eggshells sort of thing. He felt glad that Blaise didn’t conform to his mother's wishes, yet all the same wished it didn’t have to come to him getting kicked out of his own house, like Theo. 

He noticed Barnaby looked quite dazed. He remembered that the boy's parents were dark magic users - could he be going through something similar? It was plausible - though he had no clue what the boy's parents were really like. He would privately ask him.

“I’m assuming you were planning on staying here for Easter holidays?” Harry asked Blaise.

The boy nodded. “Yeah. But there’s something else - me and Theo talked about this the other day… I was wondering… if I could come stay with you, Harry.”

Blaise must’ve known from Theo that Black Manor was a highly-secret location, as he didn’t call it by its name around Neville and Barnaby. He was grateful for that. “I’d have no qualms with it, and neither would the girls. I’ll put the question to Professor Black some point before the holidays.” He replied.  _ Another housemate,  _ he thought. He knew that Blaise was going to love the Potions Lab.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Zabini pulled him into a side hug. Harry was thankful that his close friend now had a place to crash, rather than be homeless. He did wonder if Sirius was going to be a bit exasperated though - after all, Black Manor had only meant to be inhabited by him, Harry, Amelia and Dorea - since Christmas, it had become the home of Theo, Mrs Nott, Regulus, and now Blaise was to be added. Not only that, but Theo’s uncle Proteus had access to it, and sooner or later Ophelia Nott’s sister and mother probably would be coming over too. He was sure that Sirius would draw the line somewhere.

They resumed their potion-making. By the end, Harry’s Draught of Peace looked perfect. He was sure it would receive an O if he had been brewing it in an exam right now. Blaise had done good too, as had Theo - though his Befuddlement Draught was a few shades lighter than it was supposed to be. Harry was delighted to see that Neville had improved in Potions almost as much as Harry had; he no longer fumbled, and he always kept on top of what he was doing and totally immersing himself in his work, barely taking notice of anything else around him. The only thing that truly held Neville back in the subject was Snape after all.

Once they had tidied everything away and left Dungeon Five, they realised that the weather outside was glorious - though the ground was slightly wet, it was very warm weather for March. Students were taking advantage of the nice weather - more people were walking about the grounds, sitting by the lake or on the hill revising. Others were just milling about. 

They saw quite a lot of the Senior DA group sitting under the beech tree that overlooked the Black Lake. Upon closer inspection, it looked like Hermione and Sue Li were holding a Transfiguration study session.

“Shall we go join them?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, I need to get to grips with Switching Spells.” Neville nodded, as did Blaise and Theo.

“I’m gonna go and find my other friends, I said I’d meet them.” Barnaby Lee said, and they said farewell to him.

They wandered over, and slung their bags on the ground before sitting down themselves. Hermione soon came over. “You guys haven’t missed much - we only started ten minutes ago.”

“We’re going over Vanishing Spells just now, but everyone’s requested to also cover the Inanimatus Conjuring Spell, so we’ll do that towards the end.” Sue explained. Harry, Blaise, Theo and Neville all nodded and got their wands out.

After almost an hour and a half, they had covered everything to do with fifth year Transfiguration. Hermione and Sue were very good at both the theory side of things and the practical stuff. Neville had mastered the Switching Spells as well, which really improved his confidence.

Just before they concluded the session, Hannah and Mandy wanted their attention. “For those that do Healing: We went to Madam Pomfrey earlier, and she said that our theory and practical tests will be held exactly two weeks before the OWLs start - on the Monday.” Mandy Brocklehurst explained.

Everyone nodded, noting that down. “A fortnight  _ before _ OWLs?” Parvati seemed confused by it. “You would have thought they’d be held straight after them, or even during them.”

“We thought that too; but the seventh years still have to do their week long placement at St Mungo’s, and obviously they can’t be doing that during the exam period, or after it since they’re graduating, so it's being held before.” Hannah replied.

“Oh, well I suppose that makes sense.” Parvati said.

They got up to leave, since it was probably nearly lunch time. “Feel sorry for you lot, doing Healing.” Blaise said. Clearly the subject wasn’t for him.

“It’s actually really interesting - though we do have to look at gross things such as broken bones, it gives you a good insight.” Harry replied. That reminded him. “When are your career appointments?”

“On the Wednesday before Easter break,” Theo said.

“Mine’s is next week.” Blaise said. Harry noticed Neville had gone over to Hannah.

“Do you have any idea what you want to do after graduating?” He asked the two of them, curious.

“I haven’t narrowed it down yet, but with my proficiency in Potions I could probably do a few things with it. I’m sure there’s a Department at the Ministry dedicated to that sort of thing. There’s also the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers… I might ask Snape about what they do.” Blaise answered.

“I remember mentioning to my dad when I was younger that being an Auror sounded cool - but he gave me a right thump. I had no clue at the time that an Auror’s purpose was to catch Death Eaters and those who practice dark magic - alas, my father's side of the family, - so that would be a bit controversial.” Theo explained as they walked back up.

Lunch was a relaxed affair, and was spent in the company of the Ravenclaw’s. Harry started a conversation topic regarding exams and their future careers, and was really intrigued by the responses he got. Anthony, being one of the top students, was undecided about his career but would obviously like anything in the Ancient Runes, Arithmancy or Transfiguration fields. Mandy was determined to become a Healer, he knew that already, but Lisa’s response surprised him: she was really interested in becoming a Historian. “Bathilda Bagshot’s books have always interested me, and my mum’s a researcher, so it’s a given really that I’m good at it.” She had said. “Who knows, maybe one day Professor Binns will join the Headless Hunt or something and I’ll become the History teacher.”

Harry made a mental note to always remember to go to Lisa if he ever needed help with History of Magic revision. Terry was another person who could probably go into anything - since he was also somebody smart. The boy said his top two career choices were currently between Historian or Wizard Lawyer.

Soon enough, time rolled on seemingly quicker, and it was the final two weeks of term before Easter holidays. Revision was really cranked up - both in classes and with everybody in general. The OWL study groups were really progressing, and as a result the DA did too (the Senior group, particularly, since the Junior's didn’t have important exams to worry about). The meetings became time slots to practise whatever people wanted, which was a chance nobody passed up; since Easter holidays weren’t really ‘holidays’ as such since exams were getting ever closer. 

On Monday, Harry had to excuse himself from Ancient Runes halfway through the fifth period as he had to go to his career’s meeting with McGonagall. He remembered the last time he had been in her office - when Umbridge had banned him, Fred and George from Quidditch. It was a horrid memory; his Head of House had slammed her fist on the table she had been that angry at them. He was glad he was going to the office to discuss happier topics this time round.

He knocked twice before entering. Professor McGonagall ushered him in. “Take a seat, Potter.”

He gladly sat down opposite her. “I’m sure you’re aware, you’re here to discuss the subjects you hope to take at NEWT level next year in order to progress into the world of work. Have you given your future job prospects a thought?” His teacher asked.

“I have been thinking,” he said honestly, “I did think becoming an Auror sounded good, but now I’m not so sure. I enjoy a lot of things, and right now, I think I’ll keep every option open.”

His Transfiguration teacher nodded. “A wise decision. Do you plan on taking the subjects you’re doing now at NEWT level?”

He had a think. “Right now, yes. It would be very beneficial to have all of them as my qualifications. However, a lot of them depend on how well I do in my OWL’s, as you know.”

“Indeed. I can tell you right now what you’re averaging at in your classes.” McGonagall said, and eyed him with a knowing smile when he looked surprised.

“Let’s hear it.” He said, knowing that he was nothing below a D.

“Your Defence Against the Dark Arts marks are, as always, superb. Professor Lupin is really impressed not just with your marks, but your fellow yearmates grades as well. I do not have your History of Magic grades from Binns yet, but you’re probably doing okay in that. In Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy, you’re pretty much averaging E’s. I have notes from Professor’s Vector and Babbling that you’re getting solid A’s at the moment, but both of them, and I, are confident that you’ll bring both those subjects up to E standard.”

Harry balked slightly at that, in surprise. “Me getting an E in Runes is far more likely to happen than me getting an E in Arithmancy - I’d be content with an A in it, Professor.”

McGonagall chuckled. “You beat yourself up too much in regards to the latter subject, Potter. Vector herself is very impressed at how well you’re coping in OWL Arithmancy considering you started studying it mere months ago. Like I said before, revision and hard work will both boost your marks. I’m sure you know the requirements to become an Auror?”

“Yes,” he said, “five NEWTs, and nothing below Exceeds Expectations.”

“And not to mention the constant tests in the Auror Training Programme. They only take the very best, Potter, but if you do choose to become one - I will make sure you qualify as one if it's the last thing I do.” Professor McGonagall replied. 

He nodded, understanding. “I’ll have another read through the leaflets over the holidays.”

That supposedly concluded the career’s advice meeting. Just before he was about to say farewell, McGonagall spoke. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that Gryffindor are playing Hufflepuff a few days before Easter, Potter.”

“Would never forget, Professor, not with how hard Angelina is working us.”

His teacher almost smirked. “See that it continues. I’d rather like the Quidditch Cup back in my office this year.”

March 23rd was the Quidditch game between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. It was fair to say that Slytherin dominated the majority of the game - it was a bit distasteful to admit how good the Slytherin Chaser’s actually were. Adrian Pucey, their recent new acquaintance, was pretty nimble and sly. Skye Parkin virtually carried the entire Ravenclaw team on her back; she was probably the reason the team didn’t totally lose heart. It was truly a miracle when Cho managed to catch the Snitch from right under Malfoy’s nose and end the match, meaning that Ravenclaw only lost by thirty points. Because of the result, it meant that Slytherin had pushed Gryffindor out of first place; which meant Angelina’s practises only got tougher, much to their chagrin. It was fair to say that Harry was dishing out Wiggenweld Potions to almost all of the team; their practises were taking quite a lot out of them, though try telling Angelina Johnson that.

After their Quidditch practise on the Wednesday evening, just days before their match, Harry was one of the last people in the changing rooms. He’d pulled a muscle in his arm slightly during the last ten minutes, though it wasn’t hurting him too much, he took his time to get changed. “Go on ahead, Alicia, I’ll lock up.” He told his fellow teammate.

“Are you sure, Harry?” Spinnet asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He responded. With that, the Chaser left him.

Amelia, Dorea and Ron had already gone back up to the castle, meaning he’d be walking back himself. But that wasn’t a worry at all - it was barely a two minute walk. Just as he went to freshen himself up, he was sure he heard a noise.

Turning slowly, he realised that nobody else was in the changing rooms with him.  _ It was probably nothing,  _ he thought,  _ probably just something in one of the cabinets.  _

He heard it again though. This time, he was sure it was something moving around. “Hello?” Harry called out, uncertainly. He had one of his hands ready around his wand, up his sleeve, and was prepared to whip it out and use it at any moment. He was probably going to be really embarrassed if it was a tiny little mouse just scurrying around, but it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

“Ginny? Katie?” He called out, moving forward a step. “Ron?”

He was met with silence. Half of him wanted to just shrug it off as being a simple noise, while the other half of him was being very paranoid about it. Could someone really be in here with him? Surely not - how and when would they have gotten in? Up until five minutes ago, the changing rooms had been full with the Gryffindor team and its Reserves; if somebody had sneaked in then, you would have thought someone would have noticed.

Something clicked then: the out of order cubicle at the end.

Just as he thought of that as being a possibility, a creaking sound was heard again. He got the fright of his life when the cubicle door swung open suddenly. Without a second thought, he shouted, “ _ Homenum Revelio!” _

Two figures were revealed to him - who promptly swore profusely when they realised their cover was blown. Harry praised his own quick thinking - he could have been blindly sending out spells and not knowing where they were going to come from. He couldn’t believe he was involved in yet another attack..

The two people sent out an assortment of spells, yet they didn’t even touch Harry due to his very strong  _ Protego.  _ “Come on, you can do better than that!” He even taunted them. He only got a single moment in the frenzy to look at just who was attacking him.

One of the attackers was Miles Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper. That surprised him a bit; he had never interacted with the fourth year boy before, but didn’t think the lad was someone who was a dark magic user. Obviously he was.

The second boy was a bit of a mystery. Harry recognised him from places such as the corridors and social areas, but couldn’t put a name to his face. He was a Slytherin, though. He looked to be older than both Harry and Bletchley.

“You disgrace!” The second boy was calling out as he sent out spells. Their rampage of spells carried on for god knows how long - Harry didn’t even know what he was sending out anymore. A thought came to him then - he could knock out the older student and then he would only have to face Bletchley, who was a year younger than him so therefore not as experienced spell-wise. As soon as he thought of that idea, he sent out a Stunning Spell before quietly whispering a second one to go out straight after it; which almost worked, but the older Slytherin dodged it and instead hit the cubicle door - which clattered to the ground very noisily. He tried to use the moment of distraction to send out an  _ Expelliarmus,  _ which worked.

“You’ll pay for that, Potte-”

The older student didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence - Harry sent him flying through the air and backwards a good few feet. The boy was now stunned, and Harry could deal with Bletchley now.

“Why?” Was all Harry asked the boy. Miles Bletchley now looked a bit bewildered; he was on his own, no longer at an advantage.

“Y-you need to be dealt with.” Miles answered, trying to sound intimidating.

“Killed by your master, you mean?” Harry bit back, taunting, and sounding a bit like Malfoy.

“Precisely.” Bletchley said. They stared at one another for a moment before the younger Slytherin made a sudden dash to send out more spells. Harry’s reactions were uber quick, though, and he fluently disarmed him. The boy grimaced.

“I’m giving you a chance to not disgrace yourself,” Harry said, two wands now in his hand, “and come with me to hand yourself in to the Headmaster. There’s honour in that - you’ll be less likely to get expelled. The Slytherin team will need you.”

For a split second, Bletchely looked like he was considering: he had a look on his face, now that he was unarmed, that screamed how uncomfortable he was. Had he lost heart? Had he been roped into this? The boy’s blue eyes even looked pleading, and guilty. But that all changed. “No, I think not.”

There was a short interim pause, but what happened next Harry was not expecting. Bletchley suddenly screeched. “Now!”

Harry had no clue how he’d managed to react so quickly - for sailing towards him was what looked like a rusted coat hanger. It had been flung over the top of the cubicle that was out of order - which could only mean there had been a third person with Bletchley and the other boy the whole time.

His mega-fast reflexes knew that this wasn’t good. Why, out of every inanimate object, would someone throw a coat hanger of all things? 

The coat hanger could only be a Portkey.

Before dodging it, Harry very quickly cast the Slowing Spell. He was never more grateful when its rattling speed was suddenly exceptionally slower. Wherever that Portkey was programmed to go… He shuddered to think that there was likely someone on the other end waiting for him; namely Voldemort, and the Death Eaters.  _ They were hoping to ambush me, to lob it at me that quickly that I wouldn’t know what was happening, and offer me to Voldemort on a silver platter.  _ He deduced.

Now a safe distance from the Portkey, a wave of anger arrived. Harry ended up breaking another cubicle door off its hinges when he sent Bletchley flying backwards in a fury. He quickly cast  _ Incarcerous _ to make sure that the boy was trapped, and knocked him out to be sure. He sent another Stunning spell at the other boy who’d been knocked out earlier. 

“Show yourself!” He barked, wand out and ready, and referring to the third person who had thrown the Portkey. 

“What in the world is going on here?!” He heard a voice from outside. Within seconds, the changing room door burst open, and Madam Hooch was standing windswept in the doorway. “Potter, what…. Goodness gracious, why are there doors off their hinges?! Who are these people you’ve knocked out and bound?!” the Flying instructor and Quidditch referee demanded frantically.

“Bletchley and this other boy came from the out of order cubicle and tried to ambush me when they knew I was alone. There is a third person in that cubicle, Madam, they tried to throw that Portkey at me to take me to god knows where. They planned this.” He explained as best as he could. His heart was racing. The third person had nowhere to run now, unlike last time - Francis Selwyn had managed to run away in a flash, but there was no way to leave the Quidditch changing rooms except via the way you came into them.

Madam Hooch looked very uncertain. “You’re certain?”

“I heard them moving around - they were initially under a  _ Cave Inimicum.  _ I cast the Human Revealing Spell which caught them off guard, and then they started attacking. The third person waited for a signal from Bletchley before throwing the Portkey over the cubicle, hoping it would hit me and take me away.” He said.

Madam Hooch kind of understood. “We will investigate this. Now, whoever is in there, REVEAL YOURSELF!”

They heard a shuffling around inside the cubicle, and even a groan or two. Student and teacher looked at one another. Rolanda Hooch yanked the door back, and the third person was revealed.

It was a very disoriented and confused looking Zacharias Smith.

“ _ Smith?”  _ Harry bit out in venom. He couldn’t believe it - Zach Smith, DA member and Hufflepuff, had tried to hand Harry over to Voldemort? Was the boy a Death Eater, or did he have sympathies with them at least? He felt himself go cold - could the boy's family think along the same lines too, even little Sally, second year?

Zacharias was half-leaning up against the wall, slouched and rubbing his eyes. You would have thought he’d been sleeping there. Harry just gawked at the boy's audacity.

When Smith moved his hands away from his face, Harry was a bit mortified to see the word  _ TRAITOR  _ spelled out on the boy's forehead. It looked like a breakout of boils. 

“What do you have to say for yourself, young man?” Hooch roared at Zacharias. “Attacking someone when they’re alone?! An utter disgrace! You can consider yourself expelled from this establishment, boy!”

Smith seemed to be on high alert then. They boy looked up at them seemingly half-dazed. “W-what?  _ Expelled?  _ For what?”

“You have the gall to say that,” Harry snarled.

“What are you on about, Potter? How did I get here?” Smith’s eyebrows were furrowed.

“Nice try,” Hooch said irately, “that won’t fly past Dumbledore. Now get up.”

“Wait!” Zacharias said, “I literally have no clue what I’m in trouble for, alright? Can someone clarify? I do not remember what I did.”

Harry was fuming at this point. Why couldn’t Smith just admit he’d been caught red handed? The lad was just delaying the inevitable - the inevitable being his expulsion. 

“You do not remember anything?” Madam Hooch repeated slowly, as if she didn’t believe him.

“Not a thing.” Smith replied.

“He’s lying!” Harry bellowed. 

“Yes, I know that Potter!” Hooch rounded on him.

“Are either of you listening to me? I do not remember anything! Nada! I don't even know how I got here, alright?!” Smith was frantic. “I can’t be expelled if I don’t know what I did!!”

Harry sighed, stressed out and beyond pissed that Smith was so blatantly lying. He tried so hard to tame his angry emotions. “Look, let's just go to Dumbledore before these two wake up again.” Harry compromised.

To make things easier, Madam Hooch levitated the knocked-out forms of Bletchley and the other boy, who Hooch said was known as Harper. In case Zach decided to run, Harry hit him with an  _ Incarcerous  _ just in case (to Smith’s loud protest) but didn’t stun him. 

When they entered Dumbledore’s office, the man was speaking to Remus and Snape. The three men turned to look at them. As soon as Snape saw the green-lined robes of his Slytherin students, he was on high alert. “Why are Bletchley and Harper knocked out? Potter! What did you do to them?”

Remus was more calm. “Harry, are you alright?”

He nodded. The three of them were awaiting an explanation. 

He told them everything, right from the moment he was left alone in the changing rooms. Snape kept scoffing, but Dumbledore kept silencing him before he could butt in and remark. Smith kept ardently protesting that he had no idea what was going on.

“I swear! I have no clue what I’ve done! I haven’t remembered anything since dinner time!”

Harry blinked. The room was a bit silent. “Pardon, Mr Smith?” Dumbledore leaned forward, “You said you haven’t remembered anything since six?”

“That’s what I said.” Zacharias confirmed, and Harry had to bite his tongue.  _ If he weasels his way out of this…  _

The Headmaster was deep in thought. Remus kept eying Harry. Bletchely and Harper were starting to stir and regain consciousness, albeit slowly.

After a minute, Dumbledore spoke again. “Severus, call Rufus Scrimgeour here.”

“Why?” the Potions master asked. Harry thought he’d heard that name before…

“Because Mr Smith here has possibly been placed under the Imperius Curse against his knowledge or will.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	30. Easter Holidays Commence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eeeek the interrogation scene I feel is so uneccesarilly long it's annoying me. This is certainly the longest chapter I've done - 17 pages on google docs, but I have a feeling future ones will be a bit longer, especially with increased Death Eater activity planned ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Blaise and Barnaby settle into Black Manor, they meet Regulus, and Ophelia has some news regarding her divorce.

Harry did not expect a team of Auror’s to be in the middle of Dumbledore’s office on a random Wednesday evening, but then again he wasn’t even expecting the events of the past half an hour to even have occurred. Truly a strange evening.

Professor McGonagall had dropped by to a) make sure that her student was alright and b) to scold him for once again running into trouble. She also said that his circle of friends had been informed of what happened, and that he was totally fine. That was good - he didn’t want them worrying.

Sirius had also burst in, frantic. He had run over to Harry and placed his hands either side of his head, demanding to know if he was alright. Even after he assured him about five times that none of the spells even hit him, his godfather was still worrying. 

After that, Harry had to stay and listen to the Auror’s interrogate Zacharias. Bletchley and Harper were now fully conscious as well, though they were still bound. As you could imagine, they were still pissed that their plan hadn’t worked out, and they knew fine well they were going to get into serious amounts of trouble for possessing an unregistered Portkey and trying to transport Harry elsewhere. They were as venomous as a snake in their threats and insults. Eventually they had to cast a Silencing Charm in the boys direction so that they were mute throughout the questioning.

The Auror’s addressed the elephant in the room first of all - Dumbledore’s suspicion that Zacharias Smith had been placed under the Imperius by the two Slytherin’s. Rufus Scrimgeour, who had been appointed by Minister Bones as the Head of the Auror Department, was a gruff looking (and sounding) man. He was almost perfect for interrogating; he was intimidating, but at the same time he was good at speaking calmly.

The other Auror’s that had come along were Hestia Jones, Kingsley and Dawlish. Harry would have liked to see Tonks and Mad-Eye as well, but you couldn’t have everything. He willed himself to sit and listen ardently to what was being said.

“Mr Smith, you say that you do not remember anything past dinner time?” Scrimgeour asked, leaning across Dumbledore’s desk and eyeing the boy cooly.

“That’s correct, sir.” Smith replied, albeit a bit shaky. He had been permitted to drink some Veritaserum.

There were a few moments of silence as the Head Auror thought carefully about his next question. “How is it that you came into contact with Mr Bletchley and Mr Harper initially?”

“They approached me one day in the boys toilets during a lunch break, I think. They expressed a wish to acquaint and later befriend me, out of the blue. I thought it strange, but accepted. I started sitting with them and their other Slytherin friends at dinner and break times, and thought them genuine. I didn’t even think they would have any ulterior motives - else why would they just target me?” Zacharias answered truthfully, as he was bid.

“You didn’t find anything off or suspicious?” 

“No, not at first. Never would I think I was being used for something.”

“Did they ever ask about Potter’s Defence Association group? Or about him in general, since they would have known about you being a member?”

“Not that I’m aware of, sir.”

“Has this been the only occasion where you find yourself in a location you can’t remember ever getting to, Mr Smith?”

Zacharias replied. “That I’m aware of.”

Scrimgeour straightened up. “Do you remember what you were doing at dinner? Say, just before you were supposedly placed under the Imperius?”

“I had dinner with some of the Slytherin seventh years that Harper knows. Nothing happened then, it was just a normal everyday conversation I was having with them. I then remembered that I had a note from Professor Trelawney saying that she wanted me to come to her classroom. I left the Great Hall, but I don’t remember ever arriving at the North Tower… And next thing I know I’m sat against a wall, with Potter and Madam Hooch leering at me that I’m going to be expelled.”

It certainly sounded to Harry like Smith had been placed under some sort of curse unknowingly. He felt a bit bad for him - Zacharias had been lured into a false sense of security and been made to come along to things without his knowledge or consent, it seemed. 

“A note from Professor Trelawney, eh?” Scrimgeour looked puzzled. “Do you take Divination as one of your subjects, Mr Smith?

Zacharias shook his head. “Not since last year, sir, it’s a god awful subject. I did think it very weird for her to want to talk to me, but the handwriting looked like hers, so I didn’t question it and therefore went along. Obviously, it sounds like it was a trap all along.”

“That will be all for your questioning, Mr Smith.” Scrimgeour said, not that kindly. “Potter, your turn.”

Harry sat in the same chair Smith had been in and consented to taking the Veritaserum, which Dawlish swiftly gave him. Rufus Scrimgeour gave him a few moments before speaking. “Mr Potter, what were you doing leading up to the botched attack?”

The potion partly spoke for him. “I had Quidditch practise with the rest of my team, sir. I was the last one in the changing rooms, so I offered to lock up. I was soon left on my own, or so I thought.”

Scrimgeour nodded. “I have been briefed that Smith, Bletchley and Harper here were hiding in the out of order cubicle?”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“And that you kept hearing noises coming from that cubicle, so deduced that somebody was in there?”

Harry nodded.

“Describe the attack.”

“As soon as I considered the out of order cubicle as being a possibility, the door to it was already opening. I quickly cast the Human Revealing Spell, which subsequently revealed Bletchley and Harper to me. They were pretty annoyed about that, so they sent out a lot of offensive spells. I honestly have no clue how long we were battling for, but I eventually knocked out Harper first before offering Bletchley to hand himself in. He said no to that, and that was when he signalled to Smith - under the Imperius, - to lob the Portkey over the cubicle and to attempt to kidnap me.” Harry explained.

“Speaking of that Portkey - it is currently under investigation. It’s planned destination is obviously our top priority to find out, as whoever was on the other end had plans to hurt you, Potter. We will let you know the results as soon as we get them.” The Head Auror explained.

Harry was satisfied with that, though he had an inkling that the process of finding that out could potentially be lengthy. 

“One more thing, Potter: you said that you extended an offer to Mr Bletchley to ‘hand himself in’? Can you clarify what you meant by that?” Scrimgeour seemed to eye him with something that seemed to resemble part curiosity and part wonder.

“Well, I knew that Bletchley was a fourth year, who would therefore not stand a chance in hell of succeeding to beat me, a more experienced fifth year. I said to him that there was dignity in handing himself in, owning up to his mistake, and that his punishment would be a little bit less harsh. He obviously didn’t take up my offer, hence why we’re all here.” Harry explained, gesturing to the silent, mouthing form of Miles Bletchley.  _ I hope Slytherin has a Reserve Keeper. _

Scrimgeour nodded slowly, and then waved him off. “Kingsley, unsilence Mr Harper. We’ll talk to him first.”

It was like unmuting a muggle television - the room went from being partially silent to suddenly being filled with volume again, as Harper was loudly protesting (still) as you’d expect.

“Sit down and shut your mouth, you stupid boy!” Scrimgeour barked when the seventh year tried to leer in his face. Harry flinched slightly.

Harper was bound to the chair - for everyone’s safety. The lads noises of frustration and fury were clear to everyone; it was like a seething growl mixed with a bit of hyperventilation. The Truth Serum was virtually shoved down the boys throat, with the combined efforts of both Kingsley and Hestia. He prepared himself for some Death Eater plans and mantras to be spoken about.

“Now you listen to me, boy. How did you come to learn that Mr Potter would be in the quidditch changing rooms this evening?” The Head Auror put his first question to the boy, walking closer and closer to Harper.

“Miles knew that Gryffindor had their practise tonight, and that Potter would likely be worn out from it. It was pure luck and chance that he stayed back to lock up by himself.”

“How did you get into the changing rooms?”

“We snuck in when the team were out practising, as we knew Madam Hooch would be out with them as well.”

“Who initiated this plan?”

“Me and Miles both.”

“For what reason?”

“Our families are closely tied with the dark lord. Our parents wish to be in his favour and to join his ranks, so they were the ones to give this idea the go-ahead. The dark lord approved. Lucius Malfoy manipulated someone at the Ministry to give him a Portkey, which the dark lord then programmed for us. He gave us simple instructions - to bring Harry Potter to him, however possible.”

Harry felt himself go cold, though he knew a story like that was coming. Voldemort had planned to kill him tonight… who knows, it could have so easily succeeded, especially if he didn’t knock Harper out when he did. But the fact that piece of information had just implicated Malfoy Snr...

Scrimgeour grunted. “That damn Malfoy... “ He then snapped back to the present. “Who else was planning to be there with your master, eh? Were there any other Death Eaters? Give me their names!”

The potion spoke for Harper. “Mine and Bletchley’s parents, Goyle Snr, Crabbe Snr, and Nott Snr. A handful of others were to be there as well, such as Antonin Dolohov, Fenrir Greyback, Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and his brother.”

That had meant that some of the escaped Death Eaters were there, and Harry would have likely seen them had the Portkey hit him… 

Scrimgeour paced for a few moments, then rounded on Harper again. “Where was this Portkey planned to arrive at, eh? You tell me, boy!”

Dumbledore hastily told Scrimgeour not to raise his voice too much, and to let the Veritaserum in Harper’s system reveal all. Which it did. “The same graveyard where the dark lord was revived last year, during the Third Task, which Potter witnessed. Master thought it would be fitting - to kill him in the place where he was supposed to die originally.”

“I think we have all we need to know now, Ru-”

“-No, Kingsley, there’s still some more things I need to ask him,” Scrimgeour cut Kingsley off, and leaned ever closer to Harper still. “Where is this graveyard you speak of?”

“He might not know that, sir-” Dawlish tried to say.

“ _ Silence _ !” Scrimgeour barked, causing Harry to flinch once again. The man was looking very eager to hear Harper’s predicament.

“My father explained the graveyard is located in Little Hangleton, wherever that is.” You could tell that Harper really didn’t like how the Veritaserum was speaking for him.

“That settles it, then,” Scrimgeour stood to full height, “that’s the end of the questioning.”

It was silent for a few moments. “Are you not going to question Mr Bletchley, sir?” Hestia asked.

“Why would I? Harper here told me everything I needed to know and what I needed to go on. All that needs to be done now is to detain them.”

Harry was pleased at that. Though Dumbledore wasn’t exactly on the same page. “Arresting them?”

“Obviously,” the Head Auror said in a particular tone as he threw his coat on, “they’re Death Eater sprogs, Albus. We can’t just let them go free when they just carried out a plan for their comrades!”

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t,” Dumbledore said calmly, “they need to be taken out of school for the time being and be held in custody where they can’t carry out any more plans. It just seems a bit rash to do that when we do not know if they had anybody else lined up to be involved in future plans.”

Harry could see the logic in that. So did Scrimgeour. “Very well. We’ll ask both Harper and Bletchley. More Veritaserum, Hestia, if you will.”

It took less than a minute for them to get answers. Though there were only three other people who were meant to be involved in a future plan to cause havoc, they were people who were meant to have the Imperius placed on them. They were called Fergus Cawley, Niles Hanley and Timothy Morcott - all Slytherin’s who were supposedly neutral. The two boys, with the go-ahead from Voldemort, were meant to place those three students under Imperius to have them unknowingly and forcibly join the Death Eaters, and have them take part in plans - much like they had just done with Zacharias.  _ At least they won’t be roped in now,  _ Harry thought, gladly,  _ they won’t get wrongfully arrested in the future now. _

After that, Rufus Scrimgeour proclaimed that Harper and Bletchley were under arrest until further notice for casting an Unforgivable Spell, being involved with Death Eater’s, and attempting to kidnap Harry. He sat and felt a weight be taken off his shoulders when the two Slytherin’s were bound and led away through the Floo, hopefully to never see the light of day again. Harry knew that half of Slytherin were probably going to be in uproar over the next few days once the news was broken to them, and that he would be blamed… 

When they were gone, Smith turned to him. “Potter, I’m sorry-”

“-Don’t apologise,” Harry said instantly, “I know that you were placed under an Imperius, Zach, it wasn’t your fault nor will you be punished for it. I’m sorry for saying that you would be.”

The Hufflepuff looked very grateful, and for once even smiled at him. They shook hands to be sure that there were no hard feelings. Harry couldn’t help but not take his eyes off the word  _ TRAITOR,  _ which was still spelled out in boils across Smith’s forehead. “It’s done that because you unknowingly got involved with people that had Death Eater sympathies,” he explained to him, “McGonagall put an enchantment on the sign-up sheet to the DA to automatically reject anyone dark, basically.”

The Headmaster turned to them. “I’m sure you two will be desperate to get back to your common rooms after the recent events. Since this is an ongoing investigation, may I remind you both to tell as minimal as people as possible?”

Harry nodded, swearing to only tell his closest and most trusted friends. It took a few moments for Zacharias to nod, but he did in the end.

Remus was outside the office, and had been since the Auror’s had arrived. Dumbledore had said before they left that he was going to escort them back to their respective common rooms. They dropped Smith off first, who said a hasty and awkward farewell. As soon as they started walking up to Gryffindor Tower, Remus started speaking. “You’re definitely alright, Harry?”

“Yeah,” he replied honestly, “I’m still a bit shaken about that Portkey being lobbed at me, but the main thing is that it didn’t hit me. I just can’t believe I was attacked again.”

“Neither can I,” his honorary uncle and Defence teacher rubbed a hand down his face, “I haven’t stopped thinking about how close you came to being torn away from the school, to wherever that damned thing was meant to go... “

“I’m just thankful that Bletchley and Harper won’t get the chance to do it to me, or anyone else, again.” He said, sighing a bit as they climbed the stairs.

Just as they got to the top of the Grand Staircase, a flash of pain in Harry’s head gave him a scare. He immediately winced and made a noise of discomfort, and could feel himself crippling.

“Harry?” Remus was on high alert. The man’s voice was almost distant.

A dark and dank scene was visible to him. A whole crowd of people, looking unnerved despite being intimidating themselves. They were all dressed in black.

“My lord? Surely there’s been a slight delay-”

“-THEY ARE NOT COMING!!” Came a huge bellow, which could only be Voldemort. It was as if Harry  _ was _ him. “THE PLAN HAS  _ FAILED,  _ YOU IDIOTS! IT’S A WONDER I’M NOT LOST FOR WORDS!”

“My lord, my son was very eager to carry out this plan, you know yourself, he and young Miles  _ offered _ !” A man stepped forward, hands together, as if pleading. “Mayhaps the team had a longer practise than usual, and that’s what’s keeping them?”

Tom Marvolo Riddle felt nothing but fury. “Your son has failed in the very mission he thought of, you insipid man! He and Bletchley both have made a mockery of us in their utter incompetence!”

Even Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov were looking a bit uneasy. He saw the platinum blonde hair of Lucius Malfoy - gripping his cane, as if bracing for an impact. 

The pain in his scar truly seared when Voldemort suddenly started casting  _ Crucio  _ at random, on his own ‘loyal’ followers. About three people started dropping to the grass, screaming, which sent the rest into terror. 

“Harry!”

Harry found himself back to reality. He was on the ground, up against a pillar, with Remus leaning over him, looking frantic. He realised he was sweating a bit. “He’s utterly furious,” was all he said, “I was meant to be there after all... “

Remus offered a hand to help pull him up. Once he was back on his feet, he wiped his forehead. “I thought you were learning Occlumency to prevent this sort of stuff from happening?” Remus scolded.

“I have!” Harry insisted as he fixed his glasses, “I have an Occlumency shield around my mind, which I strengthen daily. I thought the visions had stopped, honest. Maybe it was just because he was downright fuming that it managed to break through the shield.. I don’t know.”

Remus wasn’t entirely convinced. “Well, you better get that shield strengthened again before You-Know-Who realises.”

“I will, before bed.” Harry said nonchalantly, and went to walk forward again. He quickly realised that Remus wasn’t walking with him. He looked back at him. “Is something else wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just something Sirius said when he left Dumbledore’s office - well, when he was dragged away, more like.” Remus said, shaking his head as if to say never mind.

“What?”

“Well… Don’t take it seriously, Harry, but as he walked away I heard him muttering that he was going to have you homeschooled-”

“-Pardon?” Harry started suddenly.

“-if attacks on you continued.” Lupin finished. 

He certainly wasn’t expecting that. Sirius surely couldn’t be serious about that? Harry wasn’t sure if he’d survive a day being homeschooled - especially if it applied to only him. That would mean Amelia and Dorea going to Hogwarts without him. He would miss out on so much if he was confined to learning within Black Manor… Though he adored the house and all it had on offer, he loved Hogwarts that little bit more - it was special, a place of memories and new beginnings. His work with the DA was only getting started as well - surely Sirius couldn’t take that away from him?!

“Well, that’s not really for him to decide.” Was all Harry said: not with any venom aimed at Sirius himself, he just hated the idea.

“He was probably just shaken in the moment, y’know how he gets. Overprotective. It took five minutes for you alone to convince him that you were 100% fine. He probably isn’t considering it at all now - and even if he was, I would tell him it was stupid.” Remus said in an attempt to settle Harry, which worked.  _ Probably just an empty threat after all, said in part-jest. _

When he eventually got back to the common room, it was basically empty - apart from the Weasley’s, Hermione, his sisters and the Quidditch team. It was fair to say he was bombarded on all fronts that much he felt like a muggle celebrity that had been caught in a scandal. 

“You were attacked! Again!”

“Who did it, Harry?”

“Are you okay?”

“McGonagall said you were almost kidnapped!!”

“I swear, if you can’t play Saturday…”

He put his hands up to stem all the questions being thrown at him a hundred miles and hour. He nodded to Angelina first; who was likely desperate to know if his chances of playing on Saturday had been hindered at all. “You better not be hurt, Harry-”

“-I’m fine, Captain. None of the spells even hit me, so I will be playing.” He answered straight away, and Angelina Johnson’s face relaxed.

Next, he looked to his twin sister. “Who attacked you?” She had asked.

“Miles Bletchley, and a seventh year Slytherin called Harper. The both of them also placed Zacharias Smith under the Imperius so they could get him to do their bidding.” He answered, and mostly everyone gasped at the end.

“He threw the Portkey?” Ron tried to piece it together, sounding nervous.

“Yes, though he was Imperiused.” He nodded.

“Where was the Portkey meant to go?” the Reserve Beater, Sloper, voiced.

“It was meant to deliver me to Voldemort directly, where he was to kill me.”

Everyone gasped and looked on-edge. Ginny in particular. 

“What happens now?” Katie Bell asked.

“Well, the Auror’s arrived in Dumbledore’s office, and questioned the four of us with Veritaserum. The Head Auror, Scrimgeour, then arrested Bletchley and Harper for three crimes and took them away.” Harry replied, and they all hung onto every word.

Eventually, everyone agreed to go to bed. Harry especially was knackered - he was still in his outfit from quidditch training, which he realised he hadn’t freshened up. He simply didn’t have the chance to.

He was never more glad to finally touch down and climb into his bed. He felt a slight feeling of dread when he thought of when the story eventually broke - maybe it already had. Slytherin were not going to be impressed that two of their own had just been arrested and were likely going to have their wands snapped, and he knew that there would be hostility. Especially considering Bletchley was the Slytherin team's Keeper - if Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff tomorrow, then it would mean they’d face Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup Final in May, and the team would need Bletchley. However, he was likely to be expelled…

He felt a bit easier when he knew that his friends would back him up - both his oldest and newest. The Slytherin DA members would almost certainly have his side too - they mostly kept separate from the rest of their house anyway, so they’d have his back both publicly and privately.

In fact, he knew then that he could count on them all. 

* * *

  
  


The next few days were a bit shaky. As always, news spread very quickly around Hogwarts, and by Thursday afternoon the whole school knew of the attack on Harry, which had happened barely twenty four hours ago. Amelia had no doubt that Theo, and subsequently Blaise, Barnaby, the Greengrass sisters, Liz and Tracey would back her brother’s corner - and they did with loyal gusto. Theo and Blaise took it a bit too seriously - they acted like bodyguards and even went to the toilets with Harry ‘just in case’. Daphne, Astoria, Liz and Tracey took care of keeping an eye out for any Slytherin females who may feel vengeful - the four of them stayed true to their house’s attributes and used equal amounts of blackmail and cunning in order to shut down any hateful comments they heard uttered towards Harry. There was also a change in Hufflepuff - since Zacharias, one of their own, had been placed under the Imperius, the house had taken it upon themselves to conduct thorough checks of their fellow peers, meaning they were truly living up to their loyalty trait.

The Ravenclaw’s were in on it too. Members of the house, such as Cho, Anthony, Terry, Padma, Sue, Lisa, Badeea and Tulip used both their knowledge and wit in order to conduct checks on house members without their knowledge. Badeea and Tulip had combined their specialties in creating spells and pranking respectively to come up with an effective solution: in order to prevent another Francis Selwyn situation, Tulip had acquired some muggle voice recording devices (god knows where and how she got them), which Badeea promptly formatted and secretly placed in each Ravenclaw dorm. The trick to them was simple - they would only activate and start recording someone’s voice if the words ‘dark lord’, ‘Death Eater’s’, ‘our lord’, ‘the plan’, ‘attack Potter’, or any other language which dark magic users might use whilst speaking about future plans. The idea was to quell any future planned attack without the person's knowledge they were even being recorded. Amelia loved the idea once it was explained. Badeea Ali was something of a genius for a fourth year - as creating spells required immense skill in Arithmancy, and the girl was creating a complex, word-recognising spell that was likely more advanced than NEWT level. 

The Gryffindor’s were a bit more upfront. On the Friday evening, mere hours before the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor game, Fred and George were feeling daring. Since Harry, Amelia, Dorea, Ron and Hermione had gone to the Room of Requirement anyway, the twins had an idea just to check there were no Gryffindor’s thinking of allying with Voldemort - they already had a prank product lined up (a soda drink which was laced with Veritaserum) which made the person who drank it reveal any unconscious thoughts regarding anything you asked them. The beauty of it was that the person being asked would not remember being questioned. The Weasley twins played it off like they had just come back from Honeydukes cellar and took a whole batch of fizzy juice, which they offered for free to anyone. As predicted, a lot of students came up to bag themselves a free drink. The twins then started questioning - and thankfully none of the students' answers had given them any cause for concern or alarm. That would definitely make them sleep easier at night - nobody in Gryffindor at least was planning on being Death Eater scum. When the twins told them about their findings when they got back, Harry was honoured they’d done all that for his safety and security, but said they really didn’t have to. Fred and George just shook off his concern though, and said he and Amela were practically family that they’d do anything to protect. Amelia had grinned at that.

* * *

Saturday morning was upon them, which meant the game was on them at last. At breakfast, Harry went down with his sister, godsister, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the twins. Just as they came off the Grand Staircase, a group of Slytherin boys that included Montague and Warrington stood in front of them and leered.

“Why’d you grass in my Keeper, Potty?” Montague snarled. “You think you’re so invincible? He’ll be out in no time!”

“You best be counting your blessings if you beat Hufflepuff today, Potter, for when you face Slytherin in the final we will run you lot into the ground!” Warrington hissed.

“Really?” Harry replied neutrally, “That will be quite hard for you to do, especially considering the fact that our team has always beaten yours, and you have no Keeper to stop the goals going in.”

Fred and George guffawed, and Hermione was shocked but very impressed. The Slytherin’s were fuming. “You nasty little-”

“-I’d advise you not to finish that sentence, Wilson.” came from in front of them, which belonged to Remus.

The Slytherin’s begrudgingly nodded, but glared at them once last time before slinking into the Great Hall. Remus approached them. “Good luck today, guys.” The man said happily, patting them on the shoulders as they walked past. They thanked him, and on a happier note went towards Gryffindor table.

Their other friends joined them, even Megan, Wayne and Zacharias. They had friendly discussions - and didn't once talk about the match. Instead they talked about the National Quidditch League standings, and about the teams in it.

They were discussing the chances of Pride of Portree (who were playing the Montrose Magpies today, conveniently) when Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. He thought it was just going to be another well-wisher, but was surprised when he turned, for it was Barnaby Lee.

“Hey mate,” Harry nodded in welcome.

“Hi,” the boy said, “good luck for today. I was just wondering if I could talk to you?”

Harry nodded and went to get up, although he noticed that Fred and George, sitting across from him, looked ready to get up and follow them. He looked at them. “It’s fine, guys, Barnaby is a DA member.”

The twins nodded, though watched them leave the hall. Since the Entrance Hall was deserted, they just went there. “You alright, Barnaby?” He asked, noticing the boy looked a bit on-edge.

“Kind of,” the fourth year replied, “I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately. Since you’re a go-to person for a lot of people, I just decided to come to you..”

He nodded slowly. “If it’s more of a private matter, I could cast a Silencing Charm around us in case anyone hears?”

Barnaby nodded vehemently. “Yes, please.”

Harry did so. When he tucked his wand away, Barnaby took a deep breath. “Okay, here it goes. This is probably gonna sound a bit like repetition, but my situation is a bit different. So I know that Blaise and Theo live with you at some random location, and I was there with you guys when we were brewing and Blaise explained why he wanted to live with you, and it got me thinking. What Blaise said about his mum and her boyfriend wanting to Dark Mark him made me realise something: my parents are likely going to say the same thing to me. Now obviously I’m not like them - I’ve never been a pureblood supremacist ponce, so I’d hate every second of being a forced Death Eater. But my mum and dad are both members of the Death Eater’s, y’see - they’re not in his inner circle, and they barely attend meetings, but they agree with his beliefs. Ugh, I’m probably rambling… But what I’m saying is this - I do not want that life for myself. I don’t want my parents to force me to be someone that I’m not. But they don’t care about that in the slightest; they’d force me into it anyway. The DA made me realise long ago that being a child of two Death Eaters doesn’t have to mean I have to resign myself to that kind of life as well; I want to be able to flourish in the real world, not the oppressive one You-Know-Who is desiring. If I remain living with my parents, they’ll mark me whether I want it or not, but if I leave… I really feel like that would give me the best hope of succeeding in life.”

Harry listened patiently. He was glad that he thought of creating the DA at all - for people like Barnaby, Blaise and Theo wouldn’t have a safe place to vent and crash after all, and he wouldn’t have prevented as many Death Eater hopefuls from going over to the dark side.

“Are your parents abusive at all?” Harry asked.

“My dad is cruel, and is indifferent to love. He’s kind of the reason I have this strong, tough-guy persona. He once screamed at me for crying because he murdered some Pixies in front of me. My mum is similar, though she does care about me, I guess. That sounds terrible, you’d think ‘caring’ would be a standard requirement for parents. My grandma also supports You-Know-Who.”

Harry nodded as he stared at the green-eyed boy. He made his decision right there and then. “You can come and stay with us. In fact, I’m still yet to ask my godfather if Blaise can come - I can do that after the match. I’m sure he will accept, though I’m not sure if he’ll let anyone else come lest the house becomes known as Black Sanctuary.”

Barnaby laughed, which was nice to see after he’d been quite tense and nervous before. They walked back into the Great Hall, relieved. Angelina was soon on him. “Have you eaten? We need to get down to the pitch, see what conditions are like and all that.”

“Yeah, I did.” He said, and nodded farewell at Barnaby, who said one last good luck.

The Gryffindor team and the Reserve’s walked down to the pitch quite leisurely, though Angelina was quite serious. Ron fell in beside him. “What was Barnaby speaking to you about?”

“He’s also going to become a resident of Black Manor.” Was all Harry said as they passed a few Hufflepuff Reserve’s.

Ron nodded. “That house is bound to become a sanctuary during the inevitable war.”

Harry chuckled, having just said something like that a few minutes before. 

In the changing rooms, Angelina had their usual team talk once they were all changed. “Right, so this is another crucial game - if we win, and we must, we’ll face Slytherin in the final. But we will only get to the final if we score adequate points today. I’ve done the maths - Harry, please try and hold Summerby off long enough until we get to one hundred points up before you think of catching the Snitch, will you? Then it will really propel us into first place, and we get our one-way ticket to go into the final.”

He nodded, mentally noting that piece of vital information. He would have to deploy every tactic known to man, but the team was in really good form, so he knew it wouldn’t take that long for them to get ten goals.

“Also, it’s potentially our second to last game,” Angelina said, and gestured to Fred, George and Alicia as she said it, “which means it could be my last game as Captain if we lose. I know I’ve taken my role a bit too seriously, but if this is the last time we meet as a team, I just want to thank you all for putting up with me, and us, over the years. Together we’ve all been pushed to our limits, but we’ve become stronger because of it, and it really shows in our gameplay. You all are amazing; as players, people and contributors. Truly, it feels like I’ve shared the role of Captaincy with you: you’ve all spoken to me whenever I’ve wanted to gage opinions, and we’ve never had a disagreement or fallen out. How many other teams can boast  _ that _ ? Truly, you’re all incredible. I hope we can all meet one day in the future when we’re all graduated, and who knows, maybe we’ll have a little team reunion game in ten years time?”

They all chuckled at that, and even Harry was getting a bit emotional. He wasn’t going to cry or anything, he just felt a bit sad how it was possibly their last game together. 

“Let’s do everything in our power to not make it our last team game, eh?” Fred voiced all of a sudden.

George was right on cue to speak after him. “Yeah, let's not dwell on the ‘what ifs’, let's go out there and win, so that we can play our last game in May instead of today!”

They all whooped and cheered at that, and chanted a bit. Harry vowed himself to keep his wits about him, and to prevent Summerby from getting anywhere near the snitch until Gryffindor had 100 points.

An hour later, they were striding out onto the pitch, now changed and ready for action. The stands were packed, as Quidditch games usually were. He grinned up at Amelia, Dorea and Ginny, who were in the stands but on standby in case Harry or any of the Chaser’s had to be substituted off. Jack and Sloper were with them too, looking enthusiastic. 

He’d been excited to face this strong Hufflepuff team for a while now. He wasn’t that worried about Summerby, the Seeker and therefore his direct opponent, as the boy had only managed to catch the Snitch once this season, but nonetheless he’d watch out for him. He waved at Megan, Wayne and Zach good-heartedly as the Captain’s shook hands, and they mouthed good luck before obtaining seriousness and game-faces as they mounted their brooms. Ron was puffing nervously as he flew to his hoops, though he looked focused and ready.

Hooch blew the whistle and threw the Quaffle up into the air. Katie was immediately vying for it, but Cadwallader won the aerial battle. The Captain was already soaring towards Ron. Harry tore his focus away as he started his hunt for the Snitch, though he’d learned by now to keep one ear out for Lee’s commentary.

“Could we have a goal within the first minute here? It certainly looks possible! Cadwallader soars past Johnson and Spinnet, dodges a Weasley bludger. He prepares to take his shot… aims.. And sc-OH NO HE DOESN’T! Ron Weasley in goal has just stopped that with the tips of his gloves! Spectacular!”

He was pleased that Ron managed to save it, hoping it would give him confidence for the rest of the match. He noticed Summerby was tracking him, following him - rookie mistake. Harry smirked brightly as he soared off in one direction, as if he’d spotted the Snitch, and Summerby was soon scrambling to accelerate. Then, with one swift motion of his Firebolt (the beauty of it being such a top-of-the-range broom) drifted it around so he was facing the opposite direction, and zoomed right past Summerby.

“Potter’s completely done Summerby there! Oldest trick in the book, but they still fall for it!” Lee laughed into the magical microphone, and the crowd was buzzing. He knew that Sirius and Remus were either mesmerised or killing themselves laughing over in the teachers stand. A flustered Summerby soon continued tracking Harry. 

Ten minutes passed before the first goal went in - and it was a Gryffindor one, thankfully. Angelina had drifted her broom all the way around the goal hoops and simply flung it in, causing the crowd to go wild.

“Nice stuff from Angelina Johnson there! I’ve been saying she’s the best for years and she still won’t go out with me to Hogsmeade-”

“Jordan!” McGonagall’s voice suddenly could be heard around the stadium.

“Sorry, Professor. Just adding a bit of humour, is all. Back to the game now - Gryffindor are ten points up, Hufflepuff nill. Spinnet has the quaffle now - oh, not anymore, as she’s had to dodge a strong bludger from Megan Jones. That reminds me - I have a message request from a Mr Adrian Pucey who would like it very much if Miss Jones went with him on a date to the Three Broomsticks next term-”

“-JORDAN!” 

“It’s a shout-out service, Professor, completely harmless!”

Harry laughed and shook his head back into action as he properly searched the pitch for the much-desired little golden ball, pausing for short intervals to see if he could find it without moving. As he did so, Hufflepuff got their first goal, courtesy of Zach. Half of Slytherin took up the chant “ _ Weasley is our King”,  _ which irated everyone greatly.  _ Please don’t feel crap, Ron,  _ Harry prayed,  _ we need to get to the final. _

“You’re not doing much Seeking, Potter!” Angelina snapped him back into action, as his Captain soared past as she was going up the pitch to aid Alicia in getting to the goal hoops. Quickly leaning forward so he was moving again, he noticed that Summerby wasn’t doing much either - in fact, he was spectating.

Harry saw a flicker of gold dangling near where Wayne Hopkins had been poised, and took off in an instant, the wind buffering his hair. Though he didn’t plan on catching it yet, he wanted to be near its general vicinity at all times to block Summerby off. The burly Seeker hadn’t even noticed.  _ Stay like that the whole game, mate,  _ Harry half-joked in his head,  _ that will make my mission much easier. _

“Spinnet is really determined today, as she gets closer and closer to the Keeper’s area - and she scores!” Lee said, the crowd going wild. “This is what Quidditch is all about! Gryffindor 20, Hufflepuff 10!”

_ Only eight more goals and I can end the match, _ Harry said, keeping calm as Summerby received a bollocking from his Captain as he wasn’t doing anything. 

Things seemed to be going his way, for Gryffindor received a penalty, as the third Hufflepuff Chaser had purposefully elbowed Katie in the face as she was tackling him for the quaffle. Angelina took the shot - and scored again.  _ Seven.  _

Hufflepuff were soon on the offensive, but were desperate to not fall too far behind that their Chaser’s kept on getting fouled. Cadwallader wasn’t too impressed at that, you could imagine. However that soon proved to be very hypocritical as the Hufflepuff Captain tried to grab Katie by her shoulders to halt her in her tracks barely ten minutes later. Since it was a limited contact sport, another penalty was awarded, to Cadwallader’s fury.

Katie took it, though it only just went in and no more.  _ Six. _

Half an hour more passed, and two more goals had gone in for Gryffindor, though Hufflepuff were coming back with a vengeance. It seemed that Hufflepuff kept pushing into Gryffindor’s end of the pitch every minute, but was always stopped and pushed back. The Snitch, which Harry kept a five metre distance from, soon started taking Harry on some laps, both around and above the pitch’s boundaries. 

After coming back down about a hundred feet, Harry realised that the score was now Gryffindor 90, Hufflepuff 80. It was unbelievably close and could probably go either way, but he was keeping good tabs on the most important ball of the match and was ready to catch it when the Gryffindor score was 100 or more. He willed Ron to hold off the goals for just a little bit longer. Despite the score, from what he had heard it had been Ron’s best match in terms of saves - he’d saved five overall. Harry was nothing but delighted when he dipped down to listen and heard Lee proclaim that Ron had pulled off an excellent save. 

As soon as Gryffindor got to one hundred points, the snitch seemed to dart away - for Harry momentarily lost track of it in his giddy celebration. It dived straight downwards, so much so it looked like Harry was pulling off a Wronski Feint. Summerby had long since stopped marking him, and Harry let out an excited noise when he saw the Seeker look right at him and resume his hunt.  _ He really thinks I’m pulling off a Feint!  _ He thought with immense smugness. 

Making sure he was in sight of everyone, he concluded his dive by sharply pulling up and straightening out his Firebolt. Lee Jordan was getting excited.

“Spinnet puts  _ another one  _ in! What a girl! To think she was injured for three months as well! Incredible feat- what’s this?! Potter is in a downwards dive - oh my word, that’s a flicker of gold! He’s going for the Golden Snitch! Summerby’s shaking his head, look, he thinks Potter’s pulling another trick on him, but he’s about to get a fright! Now he scrambles towards him!”

In one swift motion, Harry caught the Snitch.

“Summerby’s not going to get there in time at all!! POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! Gryffindor have won 260-90! They’re in the Quidditch Cup Final!”

The stands erupted with cheers as Harry triumphantly pulled up, proudly showing off the Snitch clasped between his fingers as she shoved his hand in the air. Fred and George both barrelled into him at the same time, meaning that he’d almost been winded. His ears were ringing. It was that loud. He was sure that the twins had taken up the chant of “ _ Potter’s Still Got It”, _ but couldn’t be too sure as he was now surrounded on all sides.

A sea of faces were wishing him congratulations and chanting, and all he could do was thank them. Amelia, Dorea, Ginny and Hermione were sprinting through the crowd and all four of them pulled him into a group hug, which the rest of the Gryffindor team soon joined. Megan, Wayne and Zach patted him on the shoulder and said well done for a great game (well, he thought that was what they said, anyway). The DA members either hugged him, praised him, or both. 

When the crowd finally started to move towards the castle, Fred and George burst into a run. “Gotta prepare for the party in the common room!” They said. He found himself being pulled to a halt, again, as Sirius and Remus pulled him into individual hugs and said how well he had done. He was sure Sirius was rambling about how much he resembled James when he flew, but he couldn’t be too sure.

The parties after a House had won a Quidditch match, however close the result, were always hectic. Fred and George, as always, provided the food and drink - namely sugary sweets and butterbeer. It lasted well into early Sunday morning, and even McGonagall made an appearance - though it was only to tell them off for being up so late. 

Sunday in itself was pretty chilled, since tomorrow marked the school breaking up for Easter break. A lot of friendship groups were spending as much time together as possible, since those going home wouldn’t see each other for two weeks. The weather was pretty decent for their last day of term - so much so that a lot of people were sitting outside and lapping up the sun. A lot of the fifth years were sat by the Black Lake and were discussing their study groups.

“Me and Sue have made a list of the spells you should all go over during the break, so that when we come back we only have to practise casting them.” Hermione explained, and passed around sheets of parchment containing a list of Transfiguration spells from first to fifth year.

“Me and Megan have done the same thing for Care of Magical Creatures,” Tracey called out as she handed out a list of creatures to study to those who did the subject.

By lunch, everyone had about a half dozen sheets of parchment on them. Harry wondered just how much he was going to be able to cover - what with Blaise and Barnaby now living with them and what not. He would definitely have to prioritise his workload, and learn to say ‘no’ to some things if he was already busy. Not to mention he had to revise Arithmancy…

After lunch, a lot of people were heading to the library to either study or to sign some books out to take home during Easter. He knew he didn’t really have to do that, since Black Manor had a library, so elected to stay with Ron, Amelia and Dorea in the Great Hall.

“That reminds me - you should really ask dad about Blaise and Barnaby.” Dorea said.

Harry had almost forgotten, stupidly. Luckily, his godfather was still up at the staff table having lunch. He got the attention of his Slytherin friends (which took a minute or so for them to notice), and they came over.

“Let’s go up and ask, so that we don’t forget tomorrow.” He said to them, and they nodded. The three of them approached the staff table. Sirius eyed them curiously. 

“Hello, Harry, and you two. What’s up?” His godfather asked, facing them.

Harry lowered his voice a bit. “Please don’t get annoyed, but it is my wish that Blaise and Barnaby here come and live with us.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Why would I be angry? I’ll admit that it’s kind of defeating the purpose of the Manor being top secret, but I will never deny any of your friends' refuge at the place, Harry.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, and looked to the fifth year and fourth year either side of him. They did the same, smiling, and each put an arm around him as if they were thankful.

“Thank you, Professor Black.” Blaise voiced, sounding quite airy. 

“Yeah, you’ve probably saved our skins.” Barnaby said, laughing nervously.

Sirius smiled. “We’ll talk about it more when we get home tomorrow. I’ll add you to the house’s security wards now.”

Harry smirked knowingly when the two boys flinched back at the electric shock-type feeling that went through you when you were added to security wards. They walked back towards their tables, the two Slytherin’s still smiling.

“Will we meet you on the train or something so we’re not trying to find each other on the platform?” Barnaby asked.

“Definitely,” Harry said, “we’ll save some space in a compartment for you two, and Theo as well. When school breaks up tomorrow morning, will we meet you in the Entrance Hall?”

Blaise nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Great!” Harry clasped his hands together, looking forward to it. “I can’t wait for you two to see the house, You’ll just love it.”

“I hope you really do have a Potions room in the house, Potter, else I’ll be so disappointed and may just pack up and leave.” Blaise said, jokingly. They laughed.

“Oh it does, and you’ll love it.” Harry said, before the two of them left to go back over to the Slytherin table. He had half-thought of telling them about Regulus Black, but decided not to - anyone could overhear them and go into meltdown. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if the man had moved in yet.

Before he knew it, he was waking up on Monday morning first thing. Early morning sunrise was seeping in through the curtains of the fifth year boys dormitory. The sky was something of a light pink, and looked gorgeous.

He had packed his trunk the night before, as had everyone else, but he quietly double-checked it again just to make sure he had everything. Since his slight paranoia was telling him he’d forgotten something, he triply-checked. Shaking that aside and telling himself he did have all his things, he got dressed into his muggle clothing. Since the weather looked glorious, he threw on a simple t-shirt and jeans, though took a pullover out too in case it got cold. Out of his dormitory, only Seamus was staying at school for break. The boy claimed it was because he would be closer to extra resources if he needed them, and also due to the fact he’d never spent a holiday at school before. He wouldn’t be totally alone - Anthony, Padma, Parvati, and others such as Justin and even Ernie were staying as well, since they were also people who were serious about revision and passing their exams.

He went down to breakfast then, and was surprised to see only Astoria Greengrass in the Hall. Shrugging, he decided to go over to his fourth year friend.

“Mind if I join you?” He asked to be sure.

The girl grinned up at him. “Do you really need to ask by this point, Harry? Of course you can.”

“Just making sure,” he said, sliding down into the seat opposite her. “How have you been?”

“Really good, actually. Classes are going pretty good, though that’s easy for a fourth year like me to say - I don’t do any exams.” She replied, taking a sip of coffee.

“It all goes downhill in that retrospect next year,” he reminded her, smirking, “OWLs are a nightmare, especially on the homework front.”

“Yeah, Daph has said countless times.” Astoria replied, drinking some more. “I’m not sure if I said before how much I enjoy the DA, Harry.”

“I can tell you enjoy it,” he said, “you’re always smiling and work well with others. Ginny said she had particularly bonded with you.”

The girl smiled. “Gin’s great. She’s actually coming over to my house during break, on the 7th. Penny Haywood might be coming too, but she has to alternate time with her muggle friends so they don’t get suspicious. Tulip wanted to, but her parents are a bit strict and don’t like the idea of her Flooing halfway across the country whilst they’re at work.”

He nodded, pleased that Ginny was finally getting to go over to her friend's house after being disappointed she couldn’t do so over Christmas. A thought came to him then. “Is it alright if I ask this? I want you to honestly say what the non-DA Slytherin’s think of me.”

Astoria was surprised at that question, but took a few seconds to think. “To be honest, there’s an even divide. The house seems to be split into four groups: one quarter absolutely hating you and all your friends, another quarter simply disliking you and not believing anything you say, one quarter loving you - DA members, obviously, and the final quarter don’t really care.”

He could easily pinpoint which Slytherin’s fit into which category. “Fair enough. Has there been any shift since Bletchley and Harper were arrested?”

Astoria was all too eager to let spill. “A dramatic shift of opinion, but still even numbers. There was uproar even among the neutral ones once the news broke. However, we in the DA got them to pipe down.” At that, the girl looked triumphant.

“Do I want to know?” He chuckled.

“A healthy dose of slyness and cunning, oh, and Daph did threaten few of them.”

He almost choked on his tea. He knew he could count on them to defend his name. They talked a bit more. “Any plans over Easter?”

“Mostly just relaxing, I think. The fourth year exams aren’t until the end of May anyway, so I’ve still got ages to revise. I have a feeling Daph will be cooped up in her room with her nose in her notes, though.” Astoria replied.

It was then that Liz Tuttle made an appearance, as did Daphne and Tracey. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode weren’t far behind them, though they sent him an ugly glare as they walked down the Slytherin table. Sooner after that, Theo and his two new housemates made an appearance. Theo went over to sit with Amelia at Gryffindor table whilst Blaise and Barnaby sat with them.

The Hogwarts Express departed Hogsmeade at eleven a.m for London, so at ten a lot of people went up to their common rooms and dormitories to do some last-minute packing and saying goodbyes to those remaining in the castle for the holidays. Hermione had done one last jaunt to the library to find some extracurricular books to read, so Fred and George really took the opportunity to sell some of their products. As a result, the common room was pretty noisy and crowded. Harry had to dodge a third year trying to put a Headless Hat on his head as he was going up the stairs at twenty past to bring his luggage down.

Amelia went to fetch Hedwig from the owlery, with Dorea going as well, and Ginny went with them to also get Pigwidgeon. They agreed to meet in the Entrance Hall to make things easier. At half past, just before the door opened to let them leave for Hogsmeade Train Station, did Blaise, Theo and Barnaby find them. The Weasley’s, Hermione, Dorea and Amelia found them too, though they had to shuffle through the crowd.

They boarded the train and grabbed the first empty compartment they found. Fred and George left them to discuss the business with Lee. They seen Sirius and Remus walk past their compartment, and stuck their head in to say they were only two compartments up from them if they needed anything.

Soon enough, the train hooted and left Hogsmeade. Half an hour into its departure, the trolley lady was making her way up the carriages, stopping by to sell them all sorts of delicious confectionery. Harry insisted he was buying for everyone, and his arms were soon ladened and near overflowing. “My mum loves Choco Balls!” Theo claimed. “D’ya mind getting me a few more, Harry, so I can give them to her? Here, use my sickles.”

After a while of eating and talking, Barnaby got out a set of Exploding Snap for them to play. It was a tense game, and everyone flinched when their cards went up with a bang. Ron, ever a master of wizarding skill games, managed to win in the end, beating Blaise. 

Just over two and a half hours later (though it felt less than that), the train had pulled into King’s Cross Station at last, marking the official start of break. As they disembarked the train and on to the platform, they quickly located Sirius and Remus. The Weasley’s said farewell, as they sighted their parents near the barrier, and Hermione was meeting her mum and dad near the station entrance. 

Blaise and Barnaby were practically bouncing on the balls of their feet, they were that excited to go to Black Manor. Harry knew that they were going to love it as much as he did.

  
  


.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I've realised a mistake I made previously. I said in one chpter that Skye Parkin was a sixth year, but then just a few chapters ago I said she was a fourth year. I *think* I'm going to run with the idea that she'll be a fourth year in this fic, so go with that.
> 
> Also, I do plan on including the scene in OoTP where Harry views Snape's worst memory in the Pensieve. That obviously won't be happening until the gang goes back to school after Easter, but I plan on incorporating Amelia into it as well. Though I don't think Harry's a confrontational type, I have an idea for a slight flight to occur between him and Sirius when he asks him about it. It won't be anything serious, don't worry, just misunderstandings on both ends that will take a day or two to resolve. Many thanks, and enjoy!


	31. Hidden in Plain Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I've brought in two new characters this chapter. You'll definiely know their fathers.  
> Faceclaim for Romulus: Hero Fiennes Tiffin  
> Faceclaim for Isadora: Daisy Ridley (when she was a bit younger)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: the gang at Black Manor have some fun, get some revision done, and Sirius has a little talk with his daughter.

Romulus was a simple lad. Work hard, study hard, and you get to do great things. It was as simple as that. He pushed himself to do well in everything that he did, so that when the time came for him to decide what career to pursue, he would have a few open options. He wouldn’t consider himself ambitious - oh no, he hardly had any big and bold aspirations in life, he just wanted a stable and secure future.

Finding out he was a wizard at ten and a half years of age was simply astounding. Nobody had been prouder than his mother - who revealed to him that she’d known all along and demonstrated by using magic around him. This whole new world was then shown to him, and his little brain had thought it all too much, but wondered him nonetheless.

Learning from his mother about Hogwarts was also something that made him feel joy. She had shown him the book  _ Hogwarts: A History _ , and he remembered how he’d barely slept that night - he’d read it by his nightlight and stared up at the ceiling, imagining what it would be like to go there,be Sorted, learn all the subjects, make new friends…

That dream was crushed when his Hogwarts letter never arrived.

“Oh, Rom, there must be a delay or something,” his mum had said, “I’ll write to them for you, sweetheart, don’t worry. The teachers will remember me.”

Ten year old him had still felt hope in that moment, and the days following it. But when his mother had sent an owl - it never returned.

He’d gone to bed crying on the 1st of September 1991, thinking of all the new first years, how amazed they must’ve been feeling, and how he was meant to be among them… He’d been in such a sulk even his mum felt terrible for him. She’d shed a tear for him too.

It was a few days after that that his mum had come bursting through the door of their house, sounding excited. He’d been curious. She explained everything. “Oh my sweet boy, you won’t believe it! An opportunity for magical kids that slipped through the cracks regarding Hogwarts to be homeschooled by a group of magical experts, right here in St David’s!”

Eleven year old Romulus had never been more buzzing. He had jumped out of his chair at the breakfast bar and hugged his mum so tightly he feared she might’ve burst. 

“How does it work, mummy?” He asked, craning his neck in order to see the bit of paper she’d been holding, which had gotten a bit creased in the hugging. “Will I have to move away?”

“No, honey, it’s actually on the other side of the city. Everything is explained within this brochure here… It says: ‘ _ Does your child display magical abilities? Is your child of an age to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but somehow never received a Hogwarts acceptance letter? Then you’re in luck! Here in the quaint little city of St David’s, another magical opportunity has arisen. Upon registration, your child will be boarded and homeschooled at the same time, and receive exactly the same teaching as a Hogwarts student their age and ability. With a whole board of teachers, specialising in many things, your child’s education will be second to none…’  _ Oh, Romulus, it sounds so nice!”

The rest was history. He began attending the new secondary wizarding school barely a week after he was enrolled. The building looked like some sort of church or abbey, and was significantly smaller than Hogwarts. It still had the homely feel he imagined the other school to have, though.

Fast forward four years, and Romulus was now a fifth year. He was a Prefect of the school, and had many friends. He constantly scored nothing below A’s in his class tests, and was predicted to do well in his OWLs. His History of Magic teacher, called Professor Davison, even commented once that the world was his oyster. 

It was quite handy only living within walking distance from his house to the school, as he was permitted to go home on whatever days he wished and come back. He did this on weekends - he’d spend Friday evening through to Sunday evening with his mother - spend time with her, help her around the house and what not, and then walk back to school on the Sunday. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

One Friday afternoon, after a particularly difficult Potions test, he spent it outside with his group of friends that were also his yearmates. They were a strange little bunch, but they got on very well. It was only a few days before Easter break - but for Romulus his holidays started today, seeing as he was going home for the weekend. There would be no point in him going back for the Monday, since that was when St David’s were breaking up for the holidays.

“I still can’t believe Professor Wulfric had us brew the Befuddlement Draught  _ without  _ the recipe!” One of his friends, Phoebe, said. She was the oldest out of the four of them.

“Phebs, you do realise that they make you do that in the OWLs?” Stefan, the only other boy in their group, said with raised brows. Stefan was a Vampire (which was probably a contributing factor as to why he didn’t attend Hogwarts), though he was quite good looking. Romulus suspected if the boy maybe had Veela blood somewhere.

Phoebe raised her eyebrows comically. “You’re telling me this now?”

Romulus laughed. “You dunce, it's a good thing this isn’t exam day!”

“Honestly, do you ever listen in class?” Emilene, whose grandmother was a suspected half-Banshee, was barking laughter.

Phoebe flushed. “When did Wulfric ever mention that?”

“Hmm, let’s think… Maybe the start of the year?” Stefan said sarcastically. 

His friends continued talking, whilst Romulus waited for the bell to ring - as it would signal his ‘home time’. His mum was also going to order a Chinese takeaway tonight - his favourite - so he couldn’t wait to have that. When it did ring, his friends stood up with him. “Well, farewell my friend.” Stefan said, pulling him into a hug and clasping his hand. “Have a good two weeks off.”

“Tell your mum we said hey! And don’t get ran over by a bus or something walking home!” Emilene said as they hugged.

“Have a good break, Rom,” Phoebe said last, hugging him tightly. “Study hard, though that’s easy for a star student like you to do. We’ll see you in a few weeks.” 

Romulus left the school grounds with one last wave at his friends, and giggled when they rushed inside again. 

He walked through the muggle town centre to grab himself a snack for his walk home. He paid in muggle money before leaving to begin his ten minute walk to his house.

When he arrived back, he opened the rear entrance and took his shoes off, glad to be home. It smelt like there was a vanilla candle burning somewhere, and he was sure he heard more than one voice..

“We’re in the living room, sweetie!” He heard the kind tones of his mother call out once he shut the door audibly. 

“ _ We _ ?” He called back, suddenly intrigued. 

Quickly making himself a cup of tea, he near power walked into the living room to see who had come to visit. They rarely had visitors apart from friends of his mum. Romulus did have grandparents, but his mum, Ana, had told him during his third year that her parents had disowned her when she told them she was pregnant.

The thing with his family was - Romulus didn’t know who his father was. As far as he knew, he didn’t have one. Or maybe he did… Phoebe had a dad, but she liked to joke how he’d “done a runner and never came back”. He didn’t exactly want to breach the subject and ask his mum about it in case it brought back bad memories or something.

His weekly visit home took a massive turn when he entered the living room, for sitting quite casually on the sitee was none other than Albus Dumbledore.

Romulus had frozen. “O-oh..”

“Ah, Ana, this must be your son.” the Headmaster of Hogwarts said, casting his eye over him. 

His mum looked proudly at him. “He is, sir.”

“W-why are you here?” Was all he could ask. He was honoured to finally meet the man.

“I made a mistake five years ago when there seemed to be an error, and you weren’t enrolled. I have come here in hopes of rectifying it.” Dumbledore explained.

Romulus did nothing but stare at him. What did this mean? Was he talking about Hogwarts or St David’s?

“Please sit, darling.” His mum said, gesturing to the seat next to her on the couch. He slowly made his way over and took a seat.

“First of all, is the wizarding school here satisfactory?” The Headmaster asked.

Romulus thought that an odd question, but answered it anyway. “Yes, of course, sir. There’s only about a hundred or so students, and there’s odd numbers in the year groups, but it works out really well.”

The man studied him. “I don’t doubt it, I’m acquainted with the teaching staff at the small institute. Maybe one day they’ll work for me at Hogwarts.”

“Is this what this is about?” He queried.

Dumbledore smiled. “There’s a boy at Hogwarts that I think you’re very similar to, young Romulus. Yes, come to think of it, you two would get on exceptionally.”

He looked from his mother to the most powerful wizard. “Who is it you speak of, sir?”

“Harry Potter.”

He started slightly, in a good way. The man was comparing him to  _ the  _ Harry Potter?! Romulus had heard of the boy the same age as him, and his twin sister, who were currently at Hogwarts.  _ I could’ve so easily been in the same year as them,  _ he thought, yearning, _ would we have been friends?  _ He liked to think so. In fact, all the residents of St David’s knew of the boy, and most of them admired him greatly - which made them even more bummed that they could’ve had the opportunity to attend the same school as him.

“Why… Why do you say so?” He wanted to know more.

“Your attitude is akin to his. Both very to the point and on top of things. Yes, I can see the two of you side by side now. Such a shame, how you've never met.”

There was silence for a few moments, but the man opposite him spoke again. “How would you like to attend Hogwarts?”

Romulus had never been rendered speechless before. The Headmaster of the school he so desired to attend ever since he learned he was a wizard was offering him a place at said school? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity! To think that there were so many more things to do at Hogwarts - granted, St David’s was very pretty aesthetically and the building was historic in itself, but Hogwarts had much more. There would also be tonnes more people - normal kids, rather than just the rejects. He hated that word; there was nothing wrong with being rejected, but that's essentially what St David’s was - a place for magical kids that didn’t fit Ministry criteria. The place had a bloody vampire child! And a kid that was ¼ Banshee! Not that that reflected on Stefan or Emilene's capabilities or who they were as people, but they would most likely be looked down upon at Hogwarts.

But then again, he did have a soft spot for St David’s. He was friends with most of the people there, and the teaching staff were great. He genuinely enjoyed the smaller year groups and class sizes, as the Professor’s had a chance to really connect with you and get to know you. He’d never been to a big school, but could picture the larger classes. Plus, he was lucky enough to be able to walk to and fro school, and if he went to Hogwarts, his mum would be on the other side of the country to him. He’d never really been apart from her, she was the only family he had. He would literally be apart from her for nine months of the year, excluding holidays. 

There was plenty of conflict going on in Romulus’s head right now. Should he stay or should he go? “Sir, I… I might need time to think about this.”

“Not a bother, Romulus. There would be no point in you joining us this academic year anyway - there’s only one term left before summer. You could join us on the 1st of September, providing you pass your OWLs.” 

He was thankful for that - for if he had to make a decision now, he had no clue what his response would be. Plus, if he did agree to go to Hogwarts, he needed time to say his goodbyes to all his friends, and set up ways for them to keep in touch. He nodded, and sat back in his seat slightly.

“There’s something else.” His mum said, and when he glanced he saw her looking down at her hands.

“Me and your dear mother have been in correspondence for a few weeks now, my boy. I have come to realise that I made a grave mistake not sending you a Hogwarts letter - I hear you were initially crushed. Not to worry, you are learning magic anyway. But what I’m about to speak of is a different matter entirely.” Albus Dumbledore said.

He urged the man to carry on. “Sir?”

His mother quickly stood up. “I’ll go make more tea…”

Wondering where on earth this conversation was about to go, Romulus straightened up. “I’m sure you’ve gone through life wondering why it's just you and your mother here, and nobody else. It’s cruel for a child to not have a willing father figure in their life, truly a tragedy. Even more sad considering that the father is alive.”

“M-my dad?” Rom asked shakily. Was he finally getting closure as to who his father was?!

“Yes, my boy,” Dumbledore nodded patiently, “your father. Your mother has given her permission for me to tell the story of him.”

Romulus urged him on, not knowing if he was going to like this story or not. 

“Your mother and father were students at Hogwarts. Your father was already a second year when dear Ana first joined us, and they were quite exceptional - your mother was a Hufflepuff whilst your father - a Slytherin. Many were surprised by this coupling, especially considering Slytherin’s opinion of the badgers, and your fathers…. Beliefs, we shall call them. Nobody even knew how they’d met, especially considering your mother is muggleborn. Their relationship lasted until after they graduated - and it was there that your father suddenly left.”

Shocked and angry, Romulus gave a sorry look to his mother, who’d just come back with tea. You could tell she was trying to keep a calm face and look happy.

“I loved him,” his mum said after a few seconds, “very much. But he’d always been influenced by the wrong crowd… his brother roped him into dark activities, and his family are pure-bloods anyway. There’s no way we could have worked out.”

“B-but you dated him for years, mum!” Romulus exclaimed, not in an accusing or nasty tone at all, he was as hurt as she was.

“When your father left school, he became a Death Eater.” Dumbledore continued.

“What?!” He shrieked. “I’m the son of some pure-blood supremacist?”

“He wasn’t always… like that. After all, I’m a muggle born Hufflepuff, and he dated me, didn’t he?” His mum tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but her eyes were getting glassy and watery.

There was a slightly awkward silence, as Romulus took that all in. His mum continued: “It was all a game to him, in the end. Not even a week after he graduated seventh year, he asked to meet me. He met me outside Hogsmeade… to talk. He claimed how his brother managed to get him Marked by Voldemort himself, and how he almost immediately got to go on raids with the rest of them. He… He explained how they terrorised Leicester, and how the younger recruits were given simple instructions - to murder and… rape muggle women. Your father… he took pleasure in that.”

Horrified, he almost flinched. Dumbledore was looking down at the table. So his dad was a rapist as well as a Death Eater? It was going to be really bloody difficult to even like this man, once he was named.

“I broke it off with him, there and then. It broke my heart, despite myself. Then when it came for me to graduate - he sent me an owl, wanting to meet. He was that desperate to get me back that he gave me a Love Potion. Long story short: when it eventually wore off, I discovered that I’m pregnant, and he had abandoned me.”

The man who was his biological father was some sick freak, Romulus deduced. He wanted nothing more than to meet the man - so he could harm him for hurting his mother.

Since he was mere seconds away from learning his dad’s name, he probed the Headmaster for it anyway. “Who is my birth father, sir?”

The headmaster looked at him over his half-moon spectacles, and said in a placid and formal tone, “Rabastan Lestrange.”

* * *

“This place… wow. How will I ever choose just one bedroom?!” Blaise Zabini had exclaimed. They had Apparated all together to Black Manor as soon as they had arrived back in King’s Cross, and the two newest housemates were still taking everything in. You could imagine that they were even more shocked when Regulus Black  _ and  _ Buckbeak stood out in the front garden, waiting for them. The Slytherin boy’s reactions were simply priceless. They were also pretty confused, but once they sat down and had it explained to them they were pretty amazed yet chill about it. They also swore not to tell anybody.

Another nice surprise was that Mrs Nott had baked them about three batches of chocolate chips & also white chocolate cookies in anticipation of them coming back from another hectic term. The house elves, Ditsy and Dippey (who had become utterly devoted to Ophelia in their absence), had helped her out apparently, and everyone agreed that the cookies were delicious - perfectly cooked but still a bit gooey in the middle, just how they liked them. It was lovely to see the woman light up when she saw her son come through the doorway as well.

“Oh, you’ve brought your friends!” Ophelia had said a bit surprisingly, yet grinned at Blaise and Barnaby in welcome. 

Sirius explained the two boys' situations to her, and though she looked shocked, was pleased that they now had a place to stay. 

All of the kids were currently upstairs, helping Blaise and Barnaby to choose a bedroom. Dorea and Theo were with Blaise, investigating one of the many bedrooms that were on the same level as Harry’s one. Amelia and Harry were on the level below with Barnaby. “Come to think of it, this one has the exact same view as the room we’ve just been in…” The boy was muttering. 

Dorea shared a glance with Theo, and they seemed to be thinking the same thing - “ _ does that really matter?”  _ “I hope you have a preferred wall colour scheme, mate, because Sirius also sorts that out for you.” Theo said.

“What, really?” Blaise whipped his head round.

“Yeah, and bedroom furniture.” Dorea added, smirking as his mouth dropped.

Blaise finally made a choice - a bedroom four rooms down from Harry’s and on the other side of the corridor to Theo’s. Ten minutes later, Sirius arrived to decorate it. Blaise was quite standard - he chose a simple dark blue on all of the walls bar one. Barnaby’s was quite plain as well, though his blue lighter in colour. 

They all sat around the table for lunch - which was delayed a bit simply because Blaise and Barnaby had to unpack. Nobody minded though, for it just meant they had a bigger lunch. Ophelia, being a darling, had already started making the gorgeous chicken noodle soup that morning, so it just needed heating up before it was served. “I’ve missed your cooking, mum,” Theo had said in a dreamy tone.

“This is simply delicious, Mrs Nott.” Dorea said politely, though wasn’t overtly sure she could even call her Mrs Nott anymore. The others made noises of agreement.

There was a comfortable silence, as everybody elected to just eat their soup. However, uncle Regulus soon spoke up. “There’s been some news.”

They all looked up expectantly. Ophelia Nott broke out into a smile. “I was required to attend a meeting at Gringotts yesterday…”

“And?” Theo was instantly demanding.

“My solicitor, Fawley, had received an owl from the Magical Committee for Practising Law - they had reviewed my application… And they accepted it!”

The table erupted into sympathetic cheers - Ophelia Nott, after years of a horrible marriage, was free at last. Dorea felt her heart warm - the woman deserved all the happiness in the world, and was finally getting to live her best life with her son.

Theo looked almost as ecstatic as his mum; he couldn’t stop smiling, and kept hugging her. “Let’s get the butterbeer out!” Regulus voiced, “for I’m sure there’s a toast to be made!”

Dorea’s father and his younger brother sprinted through to the pantry to get it out, and soon came back. Everyone’s glass was quickly filled. Sirius got back to the head of the table, and they all stood up. “To Ophelia,” her dad spoke the toast, “and to the start of peace.”

They all murmured “To Ophelia,” and clinked their glasses before drinking. Ophelia Fortesque looked honoured, and teary eyed as she smiled and thanked everyone.

After lunch, the kids decided collectively to head out to the quidditch pitch and have a game. Regulus shook his head but laughed when they all ran past him like a herd of elephants around the back of the house.

Harry, ever a leader, came up with an idea - him, Amelia and Dorea against Blaise, Theo and Barnaby. There would be no Seeker’s or Beater’s, just two Chaser’s and one Keeper. They soon got playing. It was chaotic and simply hectic from start to finish but fun. Amelia and Barnaby were both Keeper’s. After half an hour, the score was 40 all. Harry decided (since they’d been playing for quite a while and were getting tired) that the first team to get another goal would be the winner. It was tense and very competitive. To the OG Black Manor team’s chagrin, the Slytherin boys had won. Theo had even said, “Sorry, babe!” When he launched the quaffle at the one hoop Amelia couldn’t reach. It was fair to say they didn’t hear the end of their celebrations until dinner time.

That evening, Dorea found herself up in her bedroom trying to get a bit of revision ticked off. She was completing a past exam paper for Ancient Runes - specifically last year's one. When she was done, she got the answers out and compared hers to the mark scheme - and was pleased when she got an A, for she was only five marks off an E. It was only things such as grammar in the translations holding her back, and things like not enough depth or examples in her answers.

Thinking that a good start, she filed the paper and mark scheme away in her bag, and left her revision at that; she didn’t want to bombard her brain with information, no matter if it was new or what. 

Finding herself with not that much to do and a bit bored, Dorea suddenly remembered something she and Fred had talked over before break - regarding a way to communicate over their two weeks apart. Fred had been brilliant with his idea - they would send each other letters… via the Floo. Of course, there was a chance it could go horribly wrong - biggest risk being the letter getting burned. But she could easily make duplicates of the letter, magically of course.

So she began writing. It was a bit silly, they had only last seen each other hours ago when they got off the platform, but she wrote nonetheless. She told him about all they had done that day - got Blaise and Barnaby settled in, learned of Ophelia’s successful divorce, and the Quidditch game. Satisfied, she let the ink dry and smiled whilst thinking of her boyfriend. At the end of June, it would be their one year anniversary. It was weird to think that - so much had happened since then. She was as yet unsure whether he was ‘the one’ or not - she’d been confused about it ever since Amelia had told her that her and Theo had said ‘I love you’ to one another. Her and Fred had said that phrase to one another many times, but now that she thought about it - she didn’t think they’d ever spoken it seriously, as in, said it by itself and meaningfully. She made a mental note to speak to him about it when they returned to school. 

The time was half past ten at night, and it was lights out soon. The ink on the letter was finally dry, and she could send it off. Writing Fred’s name on the envelope, she sealed it and thought of a plan.

The Floo in the living room was her obvious ideal fireplace to send it off in, as that was the main fireplace that they used that was connected to the Floo Network. Getting up, she threw her dressing gown on - it had an inside pocket, so if she suddenly came across her father, uncle or Theo’s mum she could slip it in there discreetly and pretend she was going to get a glass of water or something before bed. She practised slipping it in there quickly just in case.

Opening her bedroom door quietly, she poked her head around the doorframe and out into the long corridor. Nobody was there, and it was peacefully quiet. She could see a trickle of light coming from underneath Amelia’s bedroom door, and assumed she was still up.

Walking to the staircase, she made her way down as quietly as possible, and tried to keep the creaking of floorboards to a minimum. For some reason it always sounded much louder at night than it did during the day. Once she got to the bottom, she walked as casually as she could towards the living room, keeping her eyes and ears peeled. 

She came across Ditsy, who was moments away from loudly saying hello, but she quietly shushed her. The house elf didn’t say a word, and instead waved. She nodded at her as she went past, and smiled gratefully.

The living room door was slightly ajar, and there was no artificial light or sound coming from it. Her dad always left the curtains in the room open, as it was an unplottable location anyway, nobody could find them and there was nobody around them. Because of that, the moonlight was the only thing lighting the room.

Poking her head round to make sure there was nobody there, she was relieved to see there was nobody in there. The Floo was mere feet away. Taking one last glance round, she quickly and quietly stepped inside and shut the door so she wouldn’t be sneaked up on.

Tip-toeing rather comically over to the unlit fireplace, she kneeled down in front of it. Taking a breath, she took the envelope out from her inside pocket. Staring into the collected ash from the previous fire, she prayed this would work. In fact, she willed it to. Taking the plunge, she placed her left hand into the hanging bag that contained the all-important Floo powder. Taking a handful (and feeling a bit weird when bits of it got under her fingernails), she placed the letter in. Then, calmly said, “Number 12, Grimmauld Place!” before quickly releasing the powder from her hand and drawing it back, making sure most of it landed on top of the envelope. Before her eyes was a flash of fire, and she saw the letter get pulled and absorbed into the Floo Network (hopefully, with any luck).

Making a fist in celebration, she prayed it had gone to Grimmauld Place, and that Fred wasn’t currently looking like an idiot on the other end just sitting in front of a fireplace. If it had work, he would send her a reply tomorrow night (they had previously agreed times to send their letters, which were almost always in the evenings).

Getting back to her feet, Dorea Black felt giddy. She felt quite cheeky that she was doing this all under her father's nose. She quietly turned the doorknob and slipped out of the room quickly before going up the stairs, returning from her mission.

Little did Dorea know that her father was in the kitchen, and had seen her leave.

* * *

Making her way through London Heathrow Airport, Isadora felt something of relief. She was sure to be jet lagged later, but she had a feeling she’d be sleeping in the car and most of the night on her way home.

Her guardians met her at baggage claim. They were her adopted parents - Isadora had no clue who her parents were. All she knew was that she’d been handed into a wizarding orphanage at a young age, and that when she was three, she’d been adopted by a relatively young couple - they were named Oscar and Kate. Oscar, her ‘dad’, was a wizard. Kate was a witch too.

“Oh, it's good to have you back baby!” Kate nearly shrieked with delight when she spotted them and ran over to them.

Isadora engulfed her mum in a huge hug, having missed her a lot. Oscar kissed her hair when she hugged him, and she had never felt more loved.

“We have lots to talk about,” Issy said, her face slightly faltering. 

“There’s no rush, darling. Tell us when you're ready.” Oscar said, giving her a sad look.

Isadora Brown was a witch in herself, and English, yet she attended Ilvermorny in the USA. The reason for that? Well, she didn’t know personally, but her mum and dad told her it was because it had much more on offer than Hogwarts - where they had been educated. However, she suspected that wasn’t the full truth. She had heard them say countless times complaining about how expensive plane tickets to America were whenever they had to book Issy tickets for when she either went there or came back. If they didn’t want to spend that much money for her to travel to school, then why didn’t they just send her to Hogwarts? It was very weird.

She didn’t complain though - well, that had changed this year. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Isadora quickly located her suitcase on the moving conveyor belt and moved forward to collect it as it came past near them. She placed it on the floor, and Kate moved the handle up for her. Smiling, they started walking through the airport together towards the exit.

The weather outside was good for early morning - clouds occupied the sky, though the sun was low yet shining for half past seven in the morning. It was a pretty illumination. When they arrived at Oscar’s car, she placed her suitcase in the boot and gladly sat down in the back seat, quickly stretching her legs out after they’d been cooped up and restricted in the busy airplane ever since it left Massachusetts. Soon enough, Kate and Oscar were seated, and her dad drove the car out of the car park. She zoned out a bit, due to the fact she barely slept on the overnight flight and was feeling exhausted, Her eyes kept on drooping shut, and she heard Oscar comment how quiet the motorway was for once before she fell asleep.

Their drive from the airport to their home in Salisbury was just over an hour and a half, and Issy must’ve been sleeping for less than that when she woke up suddenly, as they were still driving. She had no clue what had woken her, but she heard her adopted parents having a conversation - though it was a bit muffled to her. 

“It just doesn’t make sense, babe, why…. Everyone at the school suddenly dislike her?

“.... Out of the blue…. For sure. I just feel so sad for her… she was popular.”

_ Oh, they’re talking about me.  _ Isadora thought. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she wanted to hear what they were saying about her. After all, they were most likely talking about her… incident at Ilvermorny. So she pretended to be asleep by keeping her eyes shut but still remaining conscious.

“I have half a mind to go over there myself and have a word with those cretin yanks…. Why do they hate her?”

Annoyingly, Oscar turned the radio up a bit then as a song he liked came on, meaning that she could only hear snippets of the conversation. Kate scolded him and said he was sure to wake up Isadora, who needed sleep. She fought the urge to smile.

When the car was about to pull into the driveway of their house, Issy acted as if she’d just woken up. They seemed to believe it.

“Finally home,” she exhaled happily when Kate opened the door for her. Oscar insisted he was fine taking her suitcase into the house, and did so. Stepping back into the house she’d missed so much, she felt content - none of the people who shunned her at Ilvermorny would never be able to affect her here, within her safe haven.

“It’s only coming up nine - do you want breakfast, sweetie?” Oscar asked, checking his watch.

She nodded ardently. “Please! Just toast is fine, thanks. Oh, and a nice brew.”

She sat at the table in the kitchen and ate, whilst her adopted parents sat across from her. They smiled lovingly at her occasionally as they read both muggle and magical newspapers. In the background, the television was on (Oscar liked to have it on for background noise), and she caught glimpses of a news report showing the Yugoslav War.

When she was finished, she went up and put her plate in the dishwasher and finished her cup of tea. Kate spoke up suddenly. “We’ll talk about Ilvermorny later. Somebody rather important is coming over to see us before lunch.”

This was news to Isadora. “Who?”

“Somebody who knows why all the students and teachers at Ilvermorny suddenly started hating you.” Oscar replied. “We’ll be talking about your education, sweetie.”

She wanted ever so much to transfer schools - which hurt a bit, as she did love Ilvermorny. She had been pretty popular there; being the only English student and all, but she’d had friends in every house and every year. She just couldn't understand why, at the drop of a hat, they seemed to despise her overnight. 

Issy soon left her adopted parents in order to take her suitcase of stuff upstairs and to start unpacking. Opening her door, she grinned, glad to be back to her own bed. Though she had tonnes of things to unpack - her school stuff, clothes, items and all that, she did that rather quickly. She’d already neatly folded the vast majority of her clothes, they just needed to be put in drawers or hung up in the wardrobe. 

The sudden change in time zones was far from being the best thing about coming home - in fact, it was dead bloody last on that list. Her body clock was all over the place, understandably, and right now it was five hours behind. The best thing she could do was give into it and take a nap, and let it sort itself out over the next few days. So she did.

She was woken up at twelve - meaning she’d slept for just under three hours. Kate was poking her head around her door. “Sweetie, the person we mentioned is here. I’d imagine he’ll be wanting to talk to you.”

Immediately getting out of her bed, Issy rushed to make herself look presentably. She ran a brush through her hair and straightened her clothes out, whilst Kate shook her head but smiled.

Her mum led her down the stairs and into the dining room, where Oscar was sitting at the table across from the man.

Who was none other than Albus bloody Dumbledore.

“Oh my gosh!” She gasped, coming to a halt. One of the most powerful and recognised wizards in the world was in her parents dining room, and it was far from what she was expecting.

The old man smiled knowingly. “Miss Brown, it’s nice to meet you. Take a seat.”

Kate gestured for her to stop being starstruck and to sit in between her and Oscar. Still looking in awe at the Headmaster of Hogwarts, she cleared her throat and sat down.

“You are just back from the United States, Miss Brown?” He asked.

Freaking out a bit that he’d just put a question to her, she willed herself to reply courteously. “Oh, yes. Plane landed at half past seven this morning.” She replied in a slight rush.  _ Idiot,  _ she scolded herself internally,  _ man’s a wizard, he probably has no clue what an airplane is! _

The man did nothing more than smile and hum. “Yes, but this time you’ve left in sad circumstances.”

Feeling crap, her smile almost dropped completely. “Yes, sir.” Kate placed her hand over hers.

“Yes, I’ve been told. I do not wish to make you uncomfortable, Miss Brown, quite the opposite. But I need to verify this story - you were popular at Ilvermorny?”

She nodded. “I had many friends, and the teachers really liked me too.”

The man continued. “Yes. But one day during the recent term, that all changed?”

“Yes,” she made herself tell the story without getting upset, “completely unexpected. I still do not know why - whenever I tried to ask somebody they’d either flinch or hurry away, as if I was some foreign being come to earth instead of somebody they’d previously known and been pals with.”

The Headmaster looked up. “Hmm, very odd indeed. The teachers were like that too?”

She nodded.

“Did you experience forms of bullying, Miss Brown?”

“Yes. I’ve been shunned on multiple occasions, and people have spoken of me as if I’m not in the room and can actually hear them. Most of the time I’m now isolated - I go to class, take my seat, and just do my own work. Nobody seems to care nor mind that I don’t get involved, but I don’t mind that. Whenever I walk the halls I get stared at or folks start eyeing me and whispering to their mates. The girls I share a dorm with - previously my good friends, - seem determined to make it known I’m not wanted. I’ve seen people blatantly turn around and walk the other way if I just so happen to be walking in their direction. It’s  _ horrible,  _ sir.” She explained, though it soon turned into rambling.Oscar laid a comforting hand on her back, and Kate was looking down at her hands.

Dumbledore ran a hand through his beard. “I’m very sorry to hear that, Miss Brown.”

“Is there anything you can do for her, Professor?” Oscar asked, “She is miserable. We should have put her at Hogwarts in the first place.”

“I do have a solution, Mr Brown. As I’m sure you’re aware, the magical schools of the world are quite strict regarding who can attend them. For example, Hogwarts is only for British and Irish students, Castelobruxo for South American children, etcetera. Now, the only instances where children can transfer from one school to another are either - for a competition or event, an exchange programme agreed between the two schools, a continental move in terms of home-time residence, or in extreme circumstances. I’ve had a read of the said circumstances, - students can transfer in cases of bullying.”

Isadora felt relief - was she getting to move schools? Truly? She had to pinch herself.  _ I could have turned my back on those bullies for good… _

“So, that means she can transfer to Hogwarts?” Kate asked, almost demanding.

“With express permission of the Headmaster of the desired school. As that is me, I do formally give permission for Isadora here to start a new life at Hogwarts.”

Her heart leapt, and she was sure her parents did too; she wouldn’t have to travel to the USA anymore! Though she was a sixth year (going on a seventh year after summer), meaning she’d literally only spend a year at Hogwarts, she just knew she was going to get more out of it than she would’ve if she remained at Ilvermorny. Hogwarts was sure to bring her new friends and new possibilities. It only made sense she attend the magical school that corresponded to her country anyway, not the one on the other side of the Atlantic.

“There is paperwork involved in the process of the transfer, but I will be more than happy to owl it to you at a later date.” Dumbledore said whilst looking at her parents and smiling.

“At a later date?” She said out loud. “What does that mean?”

“Well, since both Hogwarts and Ilvermorny’s spring breaks have now started, it means there’s only one term left - which is a little over six weeks. It would make more sense if you started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September, to mark your seventh year.”

“But.. that means I have to go back?” She felt a bit terrified in that respect. She departed Ilvermorny yesterday thinking it was her last ever day at the institute, but now she had to go back once more?

Dumbledore explained some more, and she eventually saw sense in it. She would just have to toughen up for six more weeks and ignore virtually everybody.

“There’s something else. I have figured out why you were suddenly a hated person, Miss Brown.”

She nearly lurched forward. “Have you?”

“Yes.” He then started to tell the story. “The reason it happened so suddenly was because it was a pretty sudden discovery. The schools board of directors had a meeting, and were discussing students’ grades in accordance with what house they were in. Now, I do not know how they found out about this information, but one of the directors found a confidential letter I had addressed to the previous Headmaster - a friend of mine, - years before. It detailed that you would be coming to the school when you turned eleven for your own safety. In that same letter, I detailed who you really are.”

“Who I really am?” She was confused.

“As in, your birth parents.”

She perked up at that. All she had ever known was the orphanage, and then Oscar and Kate. They were her parents as far as she was concerned. She had wondered countless times who her real mum and dad could be, but it had never gone past thinking. 

“We think you are ready to know.” Kate said suddenly, and gave her hand a squeeze.

“You guys know?” She looked between them.

Oscar nodded. “We’ve known for a few weeks now.”

She gaped at the Headmaster. “Tell me.”

“The news of your parentage spread like wildfire - which is why the school collectively decided to treat you like a foreign species of Streeler. Now that I think about it, they were probably more scared of the news than you yourself.”

She was getting a bit impatient, desperate to know. Although she wasn't sure if she was going to like this news or not. “I want to know.”

The man nodded. “Your mother was a muggle - or what the American’s call a No-Maj. In fact, she didn’t have any magical blood at all. Your father… He’s an entirely different character. He’s a wizard, and a very good one at that. He’s feared by everyone, yet respected among the people he associates with. It’s unclear how they met, but I have records and memories from your orphanage - your mother turned up one day, pregnant. She seemed a bit incoherent, but her memories were also taken once she… had died, giving birth to you. Your father, in a cruel act, had seen her in a bar where he’d been sent to spy on someone else. To make a long story short, he had seen her, thought her pretty, and decided to take liberties. He also took advantage of her. He never returned to her after… that event. He’d left your mother pregnant with his child - you.”

Isadora felt a bit horrible hearing that story - was her father a sexual abuser? It certainly sounded like that, though Dumbledore hadn’t gone into detail. Though it felt good to get some closure about who they were, she wasn’t jumping for joy at all - in fact, she could cry over the fact her mother had been abandoned, pregnant with a random man’s child, and scared out of her mind probably.

Shakily, she asked the all important question. “What were their names?”

“Your mother was called Alice Swanson. Your father…”

“Go on,” she urged.

Later, she’d wish she hadn’t. For Dumbledore replied:

“Antonin Dolohov.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know if you guys actually like the idea of Romulus and Isadora yikes haha. I like them though, so they're here to stay. They'll obviously make an appearance when the gan goes back for sixth year. 
> 
> Also, I got the idea to create them both after seeing some TikTok's where people cosplay as imagined children of Death Eater's. I really like some of the ones I seen, so I guess thats where the inspiration for them came from ahha that's probably really crap imagination on my part. As always, comment if you like em or not.


	32. Strange Customer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eeeek this is slightly late arriving and is a bit shorter thn the others, but I hope its okay.
> 
> Next Chapter: Insight to the Death Eater's, and a certain couple get found out. Plus, Sirius's favourite cousin comes to visit.

The next day, Amelia spent a good chunk of it revising. Her and Theo went into Alphard Black’s library and tested one another in various subjects, asking each other questions such as:

“What is the incantation for the Locking Spell?”

“What are the properties of Valerian Sprigs in potion making?”

“Describe the main use of the spell _Mimblewimble.”_

 _“_ How would you defend yourself against a Hinkypunk?”

By the end of their little study session, they’d asked enough questions to last a lifetime and had knuckled down everything in Charms, Defence, and Herbology. They’d tackle the other subjects another day. In the meantime, they collectively decided to go to the Potions Lab and make a start on trying to brew without any instructions in front of them, to get some practise in for their OWL in the subject.

They were the only ones in there, for now. Blaise would most likely be dying to try it out, so they expected him to appear at some point. “What Potions do you think are most likely to come up in our OWL?” She asked Theo.

“Definitely the Draught of Peace, it’s quite common because it’s so easy to mess up. Though it only seems to come up every two or three years, and it featured last year.. Blaise thinks they might have us do an Erumpent Potion as well, as it’s very difficult, but I would like a Befuddlement Draught to come up.” Her boyfriend answered.

She nodded. “We best get learning the ingredients and recipes off by heart soon, so that we don’t mess up on the day.”

Playing it safe, she decided to start off with a Swelling Solution. It was only three ingredients, and a second year potion, but it was a good starting point. She read over the instructions for twenty minutes before she even started brewing it. Amelia then set herself a challenge - if she was brewing and forgot a step, she could only look at the instructions a maximum of three times. After that, she wouldn’t be able to refer to it. It would certainly be tough to stick to, but it was a good revision tactic.

Theo was on the opposite bench brewing an Everlasting Elixir, seemingly with ease. “How on earth do you know all the instructions off by heart?” She asked him.

He smirked. “There’s an art to it, babe.”

“Tell me it then” She said, smiling and batting her eyelashes at him.

He eyed her. “A little thing called practise.” Theo then clicked his fingers, as if gesturing to her cauldron, “Mind and add your water.”

Scoffing playfully and shaking her head, she quickly did as he said and added the two tablespoons of water to her cauldron. 

By the end, the Swelling Solution looked pretty decent. She was startled when Theo tested it, for he poured it on to his hand which subsequently swelled to the size of a football (which was quite comical, really), but he’d already brewed a Deflating Draught during the Christmas holidays. He simply poured it on to his hand, and within the blink of an eye it was back to normal size. “Well, that would definitely get a passing grade.” Theo said, before chuckling a bit. 

She eyed him. “What are you laughing at?”

“Oh, well I was just thinking what would happen if I poured it on-”

“-Don’t finish that sentence, Theodore!” She nearly shrieked, clamping her hands over his mouth. He still laughed giddily, and tried to push her off but failed, due to his state of laughter. This only carried on for ten more seconds, though, as they were both startled to see somebody in the doorway.

It was Ophelia.

“Oh!” The woman looked surprised, but then she caught on to the fact that she’d just seen them holding hands. 

“Erm, hi mum.” Theo quickly tried to look inconspicuous, which failed.

Ophelia’s face went from a look of realisation to a look of delight. “Are you two…?”

Amelia looked to Theo, and gave him a look which screamed, “ _Shall we tell her?”_

Theo cleared his throat. “Mum, erm… gosh, this is awkward. Amelia.. Is my girlfriend.”

The woman made a sound of joy. “I knew it!”

“Wait, you knew?” Theo looked a bit startled at his mum.

“Well, not for sure, darling, but I’ve seen you two spend a lot of time together. Oh, I’m so happy I could burst!” Ophelia practically skipped over to them. “My dear, I couldn’t be happier that my son treasures a girl like you!” 

Amelia now felt delighted - she knew Theo’s mum liked her, she never stopped smiling around her, but she did wonder if that would change once they eventually told her about their relationship. She heard that some mums were as protective of their sons as dads were of their daughters, and had wondered a few times if Ophelia Fortesque would suddenly kick into protective mode and want to hide Theo from dating. She was gladly proved wrong though - the woman was still grinning. 

“This is wonderful, you two! Come here!” They were suddenly pulled into a hug. Amelia Potter felt nothing but lovely and grateful.

* * *

  
  


At twenty minutes to eleven did Dorea finally rise from bed. She never really slept in so late, her bed was just so comfy she didn’t feel like rising from it. Quickly getting dressed, she jogged down the staircase and moved towards the kitchen, stomach rumbling.

When she entered the kitchen, only her uncle was in there. He was sitting at the table with what looked like a copy of the _Daily Prophet. “_ Hello,” she said in welcome briskly, before moving to put a bagel in the toaster for herself.

“Morning, Dorea,” Regulus replied back, smiling gently.

“Where’s dad?” she asked him.

“He’s gone out. Lupin called through the Floo an hour ago, and said there had been an attack on a magical community living in the Scottish Borders. Highly suspected to have been conducted by Death Eater’s.”

That alarmed her. “He’s gone to fight them?”

Her uncle shook his head quickly. “No, I’d never let him. I should have clarified earlier, sorry, - the attack happened in the early hours of the morning. The Death Eater’s are long gone. He’s gone to see if he can help the Auror’s investigate and provide support.”

That relaxed her slightly. Dorea hoped that there weren’t Hogwarts students that lived there - and if there were, she hoped they didn’t get hurt in the chaos. “When do you think he’ll be back?”

“Dunno, dear. Depends on how much damage was done to the village and the people there. I’m sure he won’t be gone hours though.” Reggie replied, getting up to make another coffee. “What’s on the agenda today then?”

“I’ll do an hour or so of revision, I think, relax a bit, and then do a bit more revision.” She replied, mapping out her day out loud. “OWLs are looming up fast.”

Her uncle chuckled. “I remember them well. They’re nowhere near as bad as NEWTs though, trust me, they’re a walk in the park compared to them.”

She giggled, and suddenly remembered those pictures she had seen back at Grimmauld Place - the whole album dedicated to Regulus, filled with photos of him. She remembered the ones of him holding his OWL and NEWT results, looking proud in his pose. _He was as young as me in those photos,_ she thought, _more sensible than dad, but equally as smart as him._

She sat and had breakfast with her uncle, and they spent half an hour nattering about whatever came to mind. They caught up a bit on their lives, and Dorea told him all about their first year at Hogwarts (it was fair to say, Regulus was gaping at half of the stories), the start of second year, and about Kaspar and Sofia, who had been her guardians up until the end of fourth year. In exchange he told her about his life as a partial fugitive, due to faking his own death. It was both interesting yet scary at the same time that her uncle felt the need to do that, to hide away and live locked away, but she understood why it was necessary. 

Eventually she had to get started on revision else she would fall into a habit of never starting anything, so cleaned her plate and cup away before going back up to her room. She guessed that Amelia was in the Potions Lab or somewhere else, as her door was open but she wasn’t in her bedroom. Dorea decided to do some Astronomy study for today, so she grabbed her textbook, notebook and quills before sitting down at her study desk. After forty-five minutes, she had taken key notes and thought of some questions for herself to answer regarding the first two topics in the subject. After answering the questions, she thought that was good enough for an hour’s work, so she took a break. 

Going downstairs to make herself a cup of tea and to grab one of Ophelia’s cookies, she was surprised when she heard noise coming from the living room. Poking her head around the door, it was her father back from the village.

“Oh, hi dad!” She chirped cheerfully. Dorea noticed that he was holding something, a piece of paper. 

He didn’t look up straight away. In fact, he had to tear his eyes away from the piece of paper. “There’s a letter here for you, Dorea, it was lying in the fireplace when I came through.” Sirius Black replied, sounding puzzled.

A realisation hit her - it could only be Fred’s reply. She tried not to let her eyes widen too much. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, who’s it from?” Her dad asked as he handed it to her. 

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap,_ she thought, internally screaming, _think of something, you dolt!_ “Daphne and Astoria.”

Her dad raised one of his eyebrows. “Oh, really? That’s weird, because they’re not on the security wards, so they couldn’t have sent it through as they have no access.”

 _Shit,_ she thought, cursing as she felt her face flush a bit. “They said they were spending today at the Burrow, as they’re good mates with Ginny and all that. Ginny must’ve sent it through for them.”

Her dad just outright stared at her. “Do you have something to tell me, dear?”

Heart hammering, she responded, “No, why?”

“Because why does it say ‘ _aka babe, bubba and darling’_ under your name on the envelope?”

She really was screwed now. _How on earth am I getting out of this one?_ “Oh, you know the twins, they must’ve jokingly wrote on it when the girls weren’t looking.”

“You know, I can tell very well when you’re lying, Dorea.” Her dad crossed his arms.

“I’m not lying!” She said, though her tone faltered a bit.

“Then why do your eyes dart to the side? They don’t do that any other time!”

She sighed, trying ever so hard to fumble her way out of this. _He’s going to flip his shit if he realises._ “You’re being a bit unreasonable over nothing.”

“Why were you in the living room late last night?” Her dad asked, seemingly casually.

 _Uh oh._ “I was writing the original letter to Daph and Astoria, and sent it off in the Floo.”

“To the Burrow?”

“Yes, so it would be there when they arrived.” She replied, trying to sound as earnestly as she could. 

“What’s the need for secrecy? You were being awfully quiet and secretive about it.”

“Well, you know, I didn’t really know if sending it off in a billowing of Floo powder would work or be very efficient.” She said. Dorea really didn’t like where this questioning was going. It was as if Sirius already knew. 

“What would you even be writing to them about anyway? You saw them just over twenty four hours ago.”

“Oh you know, just girl things. I’m sure you’ve seen Daphne and Anthony Goldstein together - she’s a bit puzzled, as she doesn’t know if they’re a couple or not or if they’re still in the talking stages.”

He snickered. “And how on earth would _you_ know about that sort of thing, eh? Assuming you wrote back giving her advice?”

She tried to play it off again. “Well, I offered her support, I didn’t really instruct her in anything as I have no clue what I’d even say.”

Sirius sighed. “That better be all that you said.”

“It was, dad. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to write back to Daph and Azzy.” She said, and went to calmly leave the room.

When she was safely back in her bedroom, Dorea’s heart was still racing. Her dad had almost caught her in the act, red handed. Hells, if she had acted worse, he would have opened that letter right there and then and begun reading it. Then he would have realised that it wasn’t the Greengrass sisters writing after all, but that it was in fact Fred,

 _I have to be more careful next time,_ she thought, _this clearly isn’t a good way to go about it._ She decided there and then that she would only write to Fred if it was necessary. He would understand, definitely, especially if he knew just how close it came to Sirius finding out about their relationship.

* * *

After Dumbledore left, Romulus was left feeling bewildered. His mum was probably feeling the same too. 

He knew who his father was at last. He felt nothing but hate towards Rabastan Lestrange; the man who led his mother on, drugged her with a Love potion in order to get her back, and then left once he’d gotten her pregnant. He was nothing but scum. In fact, Romulus would have gladly carried on in his life without knowing that tidbit of information.

It only made him feel worse that he had another blood relative - in his uncle, Rodolphus Lestrange. The man was notoriously terrible, and one of Voldemort’s trusted allies. His wife, Bellatrix Black, was no different; she was probably one of the top Death Eater commanders. St David’s had been very on-edge the day the _Prophet_ announced that those three and seven other Death Eater’s had escaped Azkaban prison.

“He was nice once, you know,” his mother murmured from the doorway. 

“Mum, please don’t talk of him.” He said, gently yet firmly. “He bragged about doing terrible things to muggle women, and then drugged you and left. He’s not worth getting sad over.”

She twiddled her fingers. “I know, dear, but sometimes you have to think of the good times you had with people rather than the bad. It’s healthier that way.”

“Yet it still pains you. I don’t want you being sad over a man like him, mum.”

She smiled as if she understood. “I know, dear, but I can’t help it. You look just like a younger him as well.”

That just made him feel a bit worse. Romulus tried to think of something else to change the subject. “So, do you think I should transfer to Hogwarts?”

His mum seemed pleased they were no longer talking of Rabastan Lestrange. “It is ultimately your decision, my boy. Though we’ve never been apart from one another, I think you should go only if you truly want to. You are ultimately my son, so I’ll support you whatever the decision.”

He smiled, thankful for her support at least. At the moment, he still didn’t know what his decision was going to be; in fact, Hogwarts hadn’t occupied his mind at all since Dumbledore told him of his father. Rabastan Lestrange was all he could think of for the past ten minutes. Now that he was thinking of the school again, his mind kept changing opinions every two seconds - one part of his brain urging him to transfer to Hogwarts, the other half conflicting and demanding he stay at St David’s. _This really isn’t helping,_ he thought.

“Thank you, mum. When do you think is the latest I could leave it to decide?”

“Well, there will be some paperwork involved, I’d imagine. To be safe, I wouldn’t leave it any later than the first week of summer holidays, just to be sure.” She replied. “You’ll have to tell your pals about this.”

“I’ll tell them about the school situation, but not… my father. They’ll probably freak out.” He intervened immediately. 

“Oh honey, if they were your true friends they wouldn’t be put off by it. Surely they’d know that just because your father is a Death Eater, it doesn’t mean you align with him and his beliefs?” His mum said, moving to sit down next to him. “Isn’t Stefan from a family of vampires?”

“Yes, but being from a family of blood suckers is not the same as being related to a wizard pureblood supremacist.” He said a bit sharply, before quickly saying, “sorry.”

His mum sighed, but not in an angry or frustrated way. “It’s a lot to take in dear, don’t stress out thinking about it now. Besides, it's the holidays now, you should spend it relaxing.”

“And revising,” he said, near shuddering at how much work he had to revise and get through.”

“You’re a star student, Rom, revision won’t be a problem.” His mum giggled slightly, before kissing the top of his head, “now go unpack your stuff.”

So he did. Lugging his trunk upstairs, he breathed a sigh of relief when he flopped down on his bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he felt himself at ease. The thoughts of Hogwarts and the ones of his dad left him. You’d have thought that one of the world's most powerful wizards hadn’t just been in his living room, casually telling him he could transfer to his dream school and revealing all about his absent father.

The next day, his mum went to work early in the morning. She ran her own florist business in the town, though there was a knack to it: the muggles could only see the non-magical part of the shop. At the back of the premises, through a door that the muggles seen as being labelled as ‘ _staff entry only_ ’ (though to wizards, they saw the words ‘ _MAGICAL BLOOMS & HERBS’), _was where his mum ran her herbology shop. As the name of the business suggested, she sold a lot of magical plants, herbs and seedlings to witches and wizards. It kept her busy, though Romulus helped out when he could. Business had bloomed significantly in the spring and summer months, which kept their heads well above water and provided them with a stable cash flow, meaning they were quite comfortable living-wise. 

Getting up at quarter to nine, he got dressed and headed down to grab some breakfast. The house was quiet, as you’d expect, but he liked the peacefulness of it. It was a bright and sunny morning too, so it added to the niceness of it all.

After breakfast, he quickly skimmed through the morning edition of the _Daily Prophet,_ though this time he combed through the paper to see if there was any mention of his father. There was no mention of him that he could see, but he assumed the Death Eaters were still lying low and not wanting to come out until it was safe. He wondered just when that would be.

Just before he closed the paper, something caught his eye on page thirty-three. A brief news report of an attack upon a magical community that lived up near the Scottish Borders, which Auror’s suspected was carried out by Death Eater’s or their associates.

 _Could Rabastan have been involved?_ He wondered, with slight curiosity. _Probably,_ his brain said in a filthy tone, _attacking people and instilling fear is his speciality._

Closing the paper in disgust, he finished his apple juice and went upstairs to start a bit of revision. Pulling all of his books out of his trunk, he quickly decided to make a start on Transfiguration, since he considered it his worst subject (he’d only gotten one E in it, and that was during a test in third year). Settling down on his bed with his notes and textbook in front of him, he made a start.

At half past eleven, he called it a day, His brain felt like it had been electrocuted twice over with all the information he’d gone over. _Should have taken it easier,_ he thought, slightly regretting his approach of cramming. He was pleased that he managed to simplify his notes, though, as it would make future revision that little bit easier.

Heading back downstairs to start making himself some lunch, Romulus got to the top of the stairs when he heard a noise. Forcing himself still and silent, he tried to listen out for it again. It sounded. It was similar to a tapping sound on a window. _Probably just the postman,_ he shook his head and descended the stairs.

He got the fright of his life when he went into the kitchen, for sitting outside on the main windowsill was their owl, Mitty, indeed tapping the window. “Jeez, girly, you scared me!” He said hand on his chest as if the bird understood a word he said.

Since their kitchen window only opened via the top two smaller windows, Romulus decided to just go out of the back door and see what the bird wanted. She had an envelope in her mouth, meaning there was a letter enclosed. _Could it be Dumbledore writing already?_

Gently taking the envelope from the owl and letting her inside, he eagerly opened it. It was in fact from his mother. It read:

“ _Hey sweetie, sorry if I’ve disturbed your revision, but I have a favour to ask: Can you come to the shop? One of the girls went home sick earlier so I’m extremely busy. If you can, come along as soon as possible._

_Mum xxx.”_

He immediately went to grab his shoes and jacket after putting Mitty back in her large cage. He really hoped that the owl hadn’t been tapping on the window for that long, else he hated to think how busy the shop was. Though he didn’t mind the customers (except the snobby ones) or the retail work in general, he really didn’t like it when the shop was busy - for it was the epitome of stress, stress that he really didn’t need during the school holidays. 

Locking the house up behind him, he started walking the short distance from the residential area to the town centre. A few of his muggle neighbours were sitting in their front gardens, enjoying the sunshine. They waved and said hello to him when he walked past, and he waved back. For midday on a Saturday, St David’s was for once quite quiet - with only a handful of cars driving past him. 

When he arrived at the familiar premises, he braced himself for how busy he guessed it was going to be. He hoped that there was enough room to maneuver about, as he hated having to squeeze past people. He breathed a sigh of relief when he entered the door though, for there were only about a half dozen or so muggle customers.

His mother was serving one of them on the till. He waved hello to her, and smiled when she grinned at him. Once she was done serving the customer, he went over.

“Sorry if you were busy, dear, I was going to struggle if I didn’t have at least another person in.” She said to him.

“It’s fine, mum, honestly. I had just overloaded my brain with Transfiguration anyway, I needed a break from the revision.” He waved off her apology before lowering his voice, “are there any magical customers?”

“There were a few browsing, but they left. I actually have a few things I need you to do - there’s a whole new case of Valerian to go out on the shelf, and I need you to take an inventory of Belladonna, Puffapod and Moly. Could you do that?” His mother asked, wiping her hands on her apron that was a part of the uniform.

He nodded, and went to get started. Once he signed in, he got to his tasks right away. He started with the Valerian, and went through the storage to grab the case full of the newly in-stock plant. 

The magical part of the store was very quiet indeed, so much so that Romulus started humming along to a song he knew as he worked, Just as he finished placing the last few pots of Valerian on the respective shelf did he hear the door close.

Romulus immediately poked his head around the shelf, to see who the customer was. The person was a man, who looked to be in his late forties. “Hello.” He greeted him politely.

The man looked at him and smiled thinly before looking away. However, within a split second the man's gaze whipped back and he was looking at Romulus once again.

Feeling a bit weird, he just decided to enquire. “Is something wrong, sir?”

* * *

Making his way past the filthy muggles to enter into this supposedly raved about florist, Corban Yaxley never felt more out of touch. It was him and his wife’s wedding anniversary tomorrow, and he thought he would be a good husband and get her some flowers. He obviously couldn’t go out as himself - he was a known Death Eater, and he was going into a wizard shop, - so instead he assumed the identity of some muggle man he’d killed just a few days ago in Ireland. He did this via Polyjuice Potion, of course. He’d taken a swig of the filth just half an hour ago.

A woman, who he assumed was the owner of the shop, waved a hello in welcome as he entered her shop. He begrudgingly waved back and forced a smile before making his way to the back of the shop, where the supposed entrance to this Magical Blooms and Herbs was. He felt a wave of anger pulse through him when a muggle almost walked right into him mere feet away from the door. _Get out of my way, insipid fool,_ he thought as he slowed down. Glancing backwards, he made sure nobody was looking before pushing the door open.

When he stepped inside, it was near empty apart from one boy who had his back to him. He looked to be an employee, as he was stocking up a shelf of god knows what. Corban didn’t want any interference, he didn’t even want to talk to anybody. He just wanted to come in, browse, and buy before leaving. He wasn’t in the mood to be asked questions.

He almost rolled his eyes to the back of his head when the boy turned and looked to him, for he knew an interrogation was coming - regarding what he was looking for. “Hello.” The lad said, looking at him.

Forcing himself to be nice, he smiled at the boy. That ought to be enough to appease him, surely. _I may just hex you if you ask me what I’m in here for, boy,_ he thought in his head. He turned his head, and pretended he was happily browsing the shelves of plants that were in front of him. To be truthful, he had no clue what to even get his wife. _Why oh why did I not just go to Diagon Alley instead?_ He thought, regret filling him immediately. He doubted that this boy had any experience or knowledge of flowers beyond basic, and he sure as hell wouldn’t know about what flowers to give to a loved one. _Though he is a good looking lad, maybe he has a lass._

Come to think of it, the boy mere feet away from him was quite strapping for his age…

Something clicked inside him then. He had no clue what, it felt like his gut instinct had taken over him, and made him quickly look back at the young shop assistant. He outright stared at the boy, wondering why on earth he’d suddenly been drawn to look at him again.

The lad looked startled a bit. “Is something wrong, sir?”

Yaxley realised it must’ve looked a bit creepy, looking into this boy's eyes. Yet he was so drawn to him it was unreal. _He looks like someone,_ was his reason, _he does, he reminds me of someone I know…_

“Oh, no, sorry, I mistook you for someone.” Yaxley had to reply eventually, so he did. The boy eased a bit.

“No worries. Give me a shout if you need a hand with anything.” 

Nodding, Corban tried not to look abrupt as he walked away from that slightly awkward scene. He walked up the nearest aisle and regained some composure. _What was that about?_ His brain screamed at him, _you just stared at some kid for no reason!_

He wished he knew why. Rarely did Corban Yaxley ever lose cool. It was a part of who he was, and he upheld that image proudly. Yet that one kid had drawn his focus and really made him alert. What was so special about it? 

He must’ve been standing in the one aisle for a few minutes, as he was snapped out of it when he saw the boy walk by and saw him go into the back. The way the lad walked, the way he sounded… Why was this sticking with him so much?

It clicked, at last.

The boy looked eerily similar to a compadre of Corban’s - Rabastan Lestrange.

He knew there was nothing to it, as Rabastan had no children, but that was what had bugged him. The young shop assistant simply resembled his friend a little bit. He couldn’t believe all this fuss and inner turmoil trying to figure out who the boy looked like most. Corban shook his head and tutted, before getting back to the task at hand. He was so embarrassed that he’d been ground to a halt over something small like that, though he’d probably laugh it off later. 

The boy also couldn’t even qualify to be a relative of Rabastan, as the owner of the shop was a muggleborn woman. He found out when he went to pay that the woman who had greeted him was the owner of the shops, and the young boy was her son (he’d come through to ask a question and had addressed the woman as ‘mum’). Rabastan would never lay with anyone that wasn’t pureblood or respectable half-blood, and besides, he’d been to the house of the Lestrange’s; on the family tree, there were no records at all of any progeny of Rabastan nor even Rodolphus. _That settles it then,_ he thought, _simply a look alike._ Shaking all those previous concerns off, he left the shop with a particularly sturdy looking Flitterbloom and headed back to his home.

  
  
  
  



	33. Andromeda Tonks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Andromeda finally comes to visit, and the holidays draw on. 
> 
> Faceclaim for Ares: Baptiste Radufe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody asked for it, but I made an Amelia x Theo playlist on Spotify. Here's the link, and I'll be adding songs to it whenever I find suitable ones:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vwp8obWHrO9TrWTUeAM9W?si=azBFvVmLSZK_fyV3NWkCKw

Rabastan walked into Malfoy Manor with his brother, sister in-law, and about twenty other Death Eaters. All of them were giddy and happy, for the attack on the wizarding community in the Scottish Borders, which happened earlier that morning, had been very successful. Rab took great pleasure in it, and he knew that Master would be very pleased.

“All in a day's work, eh, brother?” Rodolphus swung an arm around him and ruffled his hair.

Rab grinned at him. “It was a brilliant attack, Rod. I wanted to stay longer, just to watch all the houses burn.”

The huge doorway in front of them clicked, and the doors were opened. Peter Pettigrew stood waiting for them as they swept past him. “D-did all go well?” The mousy man asked, his hands raised near his face for some reason.

“Very.” Bellatrix replied, moving to walk the furthest in front. “They didn’t expect us at all.”

Rabastan patted Pettigrew on the shoulder as he walked past, a bit begrudgingly. The man creeped him out, truth be told, and that was coming from him. He didn’t necessarily trust him either - he always sounded so scared and meek. Though he was nothing more than Voldemort’s servant at best, and was only taken on after he leaked the news about the Potter’s location all those years ago, he didn’t concern himself that much with the man's wellbeing.

They were soon in the room with the huge long table, where the others were gathered to hear their news of the plan. He saw Lucius and Narcissa sitting next to each other already, and Bellatrix even went to hug her sister. Master was stood at the head of the table, and when he sat down so did everyone else.

“You all look very happy, so I’d say it fair to assume the attack went well?” Voldemort asked slowly.

Rodolphus nodded. “Indeed, Master. They had no idea we were coming, and were scared out of their minds.”

Voldemort even graced a smile. “Very good.” Was all he said, his tone quite slow. He leaned down to stroke Nagini, his great big serpent. Rabastan could only see the top of the snake’s head from where he was sitting in between Rod and Jugson. “Did you take any prisoners?”

“Didn’t deem many of them worthy, Master,” Bellatrix said immediately, “they were all nobodies. However, we took some child hostages. Frightened little beasts, to be sure.”

At that, Fenrir Greyback stirred from further down the table. Rabastan couldn’t help but feel faint - if there was one thing he couldn’t abide, it was people who were predatory towards kids. He secretly couldn't stand Greyback, and wanted to hex him many times.

“Yes, Walden very kindly apparated them back for us. They’re now in the dungeons.” Master added, and gave a slight nod in McNair’s direction. Rabastan chanced a glance at everyone - he saw that Narcissa was looking a bit uncomfortable.

“How soon will the next attack be?” Dolohov asked, “my blood’s still up.”

“All in good time, Antonin,” Master replied, sounding as eager, “I’m sure we will have more information soon. After all, we have to thank Yaxley for planning this attack so nicely!”

Everyone either clapped lightly or made sounds of praise towards Corban Yaxley - who had thought of the idea to attack the Scottish village. To be honest, Rabastan could have planned it just the same, but Yaxley had thought of some good and quick tactics for the ambush. Rab clapped along with the rest before falling silent and alert again.

“Now, I have some news regarding new international allies.” Master said, and everyone leaned forward, suddenly alert. “Ten graduates from Durmstrang have expressed supreme interest in our cause, and will be joining us next week at the earliest. They will be Marked within days of their arrival.”

Everyone either nodded with appraisal or looked pleased. Rabastan was just happy for the new members.  _ More people for the cause.  _

“All from good families, I assume?” Lucius asked.

“Yes, they certainly are.” Voldemort replied, clasping his hands together slowly. He started smiling in a giddy way. “We get stronger by the day, my friends. Sooner or later the Ministry will be ours too. Then the world…”

Half of his comrades started hitting the table in praise, and started a small cheer. Rabastan could care less about the world - he just wanted the right person leading it; the man at the head of the table.

The rest of the meeting was just basically a lot of planning. The foundations of future attacks were laid, and they spent the better part of an hour pouring over maps of the UK alone. The places were just names to Rabastan, but he nodded along nonetheless and contributed to the conversation.

Just as Avery rolled the map up, Master looked like he wanted to say something. “Speak, Master.” Rabastan urged. The table looked surprised, as if they hadn’t noticed before, and quieted immediately. 

“Thank you, Rabastan. Now, before we all go, there’s somebody I’d like us all to meet.” Master said.

Everyone looked to one another, either with excitement or interest. Rod nudged him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

“Eh?” Rab whispered back, confused. Rod just shook his head.

Rohan Nott stood up and gladly went to open up the door. When they were opened, a person was revealed to them.

A young lad, maybe sixteen or seventeen. He had immaculate dress sense, and seemed to have an air of preposterous energy about him. His hair was a light brown, though in a certain light some of it looked to be blonde. The whole table looked expectant as he walked past Pettigrew and Rohan into the room.

“Where’d you find this baby-faced kid, Master?” Walden said, eyeing the boy.

“He looks like one of those muggle models,” Goyle Snr said, in a sneer, “I hope he isn’t a mudblood, else-”

“-Shhh, Goyle,” Master commanded, which shut the other man up a bit sheepishly. “Introduce yourself, my boy.”

The lad took a breath. “I am Ares,” he said, and Rabastan was a bit taken aback when he boy went to stand directly behind Rodolphus’s chair. “Son of Rodolphus Lestrange.”

Rab thought this was some joke. Rodolphus’s child? That meant the lad was his nephew! How on earth could that ring true?

“I didn’t know you two had a child?” Jugson said, looking between Rodolphus and Bellatrix.

“I am not his mother.” Bellatrix replied simply.

“Then who…” Was all Rab could say. He looked to his brother, and gave him a look as if to say, “ _ Why didn’t you tell me?” _

“Ares has been hidden from anyone except me for his own safety. Though he may only be a bastard child of mine, I believe he is worthy of the name Lestrange.” Rodolphus explained, everyone listening intently. He then looked to Voldemort. “I believe he is ready for the Dark Mark.”

The boy who was Rabastan’s nephew just stared at seemingly nothing. His head was inclined though. He tried to get a good look at him, as if to puzzle out who his mother was.  _ He looks a bit like me,  _ he thought,  _ he has all the classic Lestrange features and looks. He looks like our father and grandfather... _

Master looked giddy. “I believe so too. There are great things in store for you, young Ares.”

“I would be delighted to join today, sir.” The lad said, gracing a small smile.  _ Gosh, he’s almost as lifeless as the rest of us.  _ He chanced a look at his sister in-law, two seats down from him, who didn’t even look phased that this boy was her step-son - a child that was not hers, which therefore had meant that Rodolphus had cheated on her at some point, effectively.

“That you shall be permitted. In fact, the ceremony shall take place in five minutes! You are all free to go - Wormtail, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Antonin, Lucius; you four remain. There has to be five present to bear witness and confirm. The rest of you, you are free to go. We meet again on Sunday.” Master said.

Chairs immediately started scraping the marble floor. Rabastan wanted to ask his brother so many questions about this son of his, yet he couldn’t just now, as his brother had to remain to watch said boy receive the Mark. Rabastan looked at the boy one last time before he got up. 

“I’ll meet you back at the Manor,” Rod said, as he clapped his shoulders before walking past him to go towards his son. Rab just nodded, though cursed him in his head for all the secrecy.  _ What was the need?  _ He thought,  _ Do you not trust me, brother? How many more things have you kept from me? _

Exiting the room, Rabastan felt the urge to get some fresh air - especially after that revelation. He pushed open the front door to Malfoy Manor and just stood, his mind everywhere.

He pulled out a cigarette - one muggle thing he actually liked, - and lit it up. Taking a long drag of it, he felt a tiny bit of his wonders leave him as he breathed out, feeling somewhat at ease.

He continued smoking for what he assumed was five minutes; yet the cigarette was barely halfway done. It just wasn’t like Rodolphus to hide things from him - they were brothers, and very close ones at that. Ever since childhood it had been like that. So why had this mysterious newly-revealed nephew of his suddenly appeared without any word from Rodolphus?

“Oh, you’re out here.” He heard a voice. He turned around, and it was none other than Narcissa. 

He nodded at her in acknowledgement. “Clearing my head.”

She gave the tiniest smile, but then noticed the cigarette. “Isn’t that some muggle contraption?”

“Yes, but I only use them for short-term relief.” He said simply, taking another drag and breathing out once he felt it fill his lungs.

“A pipe would be more fitting,” Narcissa Black said, moving to stand closer to him.

“I would rather die than look like I’m from another time period,” he said, and smirked a bit at his own humour. Rohan’s mother smoked a pipe, and she resembled a shrivelled worm.

Narcissa scoffed, but not in a bad way. There was some silence for a few moments, the only sounds that could be heard were sourcing from the menagerie of Lucius’s at the back of the property.

“Did  _ you _ know about my brother's son?” He asked the woman, who was Rodolphus’s sister in-law.

She looked up at him. “Bella told me.”

“So Rod can tell his wife but he can’t tell me?” He said in part-disbelief. “The boy’s my nephew, I guess. I could have been his guardian, and trained him myself.”

“Rodolphus seemingly had that same thought too, but decided it was safer if only they knew.” She replied.

Rabastan nodded, though a bit reluctantly. A thought came to him then: “How does your sister feel that her husband has fathered a child on some other woman?”

Narcissa smirked. “You know as well as I do that Bella’s marriage to Rodolphus was not for love, Rabastan, but gain. If anything, they’re friends at most. They don’t even share the same  _ bed  _ most of the time. She doesn’t care that he’s having flings with others.”

“Fair enough,” he said, deciding he’d had enough of the cigarette and putting it out. “I suppose I have a nephew to catch up with now.”

“The Marking doesn’t take long, it’ll be done in no time.” The woman replied, straightening her long coat out slightly. “I’d assume he’s going to live with you and your brother?”

“Probably,” he said, “Rod will want him moved in straight away.”

He looked back down at Narcissa, and he noticed her looking a bit distant all of a sudden. She was staring out at the long winding path of the estate. Rabastan had always thought her a pretty woman, ever since school, but even he admitted she looked beautiful in this moment. “What’s wrong?” He asked her.  _ She’s probably just missing Draco, is all. _

“It’s my sister’s birthday today.” Was all she said, quietly.

He was confused, for he didn’t think it was Bellatrix’s birthday today, else someone would have said at the meeting and they would have drank to her day. “No, not Bella’s, my other sister - Andromeda.”

It clicked then. He remembered Andromeda from school - she was a Slytherin, and was initially friends with them, but then she excluded herself from them. Bellatrix had said one night at a family supper that she’d married a muggleborn. He could guess that Andromeda had long since been banished from the family by her parents and sisters. However, Narcissa’s expression wasn’t one of hate, she looked sad more than anything. “Do you miss her?” He asked, albeit a bit awkwardly. Being supportive and offering comfort wasn’t really a strong point of any Lestrange. They were tough and cruel people.

“I hate her for what she did, but yet I can’t help but yearn for her and think of the happy times. The sisterly love has never gone away…” She replied, keeping composure, yet her voice went that tiniest bit higher.

He tried to offer some support, yet he knew he’d probably look and sound an idiot. “I’m sure she feels the same.”

She scoffed. “I doubt it. After what we said to her when we found out and cast her away… I’m probably as good as dead to her.”

“Perhaps, but that familial bond will always be there.” He said, having no idea if it was the right thing to say. 

Narcissa sniffed a bit. “Didn’t you have a girlfriend in school? That Hufflepuff girl - what was her name?”

His heart skipped a beat. “Ana.”

“That was her name. What happened to her?”

“I… We went our separate ways.” He said, hurting all over again. He also felt guilt over just what he did to get her back. “She didn’t like who I was becoming.”

The woman eyed him, and seemed to understand, for she didn’t ask any more questions. Ana had been his first, and only, love. Yet he’d been a conflicted person - he had to uphold his family image and join the side of the Dark, there was no room in the world Voldemort was building to also be in love with a muggleborn girl. Yet he’d loved her so much… He’d never told anyone that Ana had been a muggleborn, not even his own brother. Whenever they’d asked, he told them she was a half-blood, of Macmillan descent, to keep them appeased. She was always on his mind.

She never left his mind.

* * *

  
  


Regulus found his brother in one of the many studies on the ground floor, and it was purely by chance. He’d been calling his name the past few minutes, wondering where he’d gotten to. Ophelia had assumed he’d been doing some marking, but hadn’t been too sure. He’d walked past the study on the way to the kitchen, when something caught his eye in the room's empty doorway. Sirius, sat at the long mahogany desk.

“There you are, brother,” Reggie said, sighing with relief and entering the cavernous room. He quickly noticed the faraway look on his brother's face. “What’s up?” He asked immediately.

“Daughter’s. In particular, my one.” Was Sirius’s short response.

Regulus chuckled. “What could you possibly mean by that?”

“She’s hiding something from me, I can tell. And I get the feeling it’s to do with d….”

“...What?”

“..Dating.  _ Urgh!”  _ Sirius flinched as he said it, and made a look of distaste.

Regulus would have burst out laughing if it wasn’t for his brother's turmoil. He was glad he didn’t have children. Sure, he’d love to have a little mini him, but that would mean getting a girlfriend or wife. He was in his thirties, and hadn’t really dated before.

“You think Dorea is in a secret relationship with someone?” He wanted to make sure.

“Yes. Well, I have reasons to believe that she is anyway.”

“I hope you don’t explode if she does admit it, brother,” Reggie said quickly, “I know she’s your baby and you feel a need to protect her from the world, but remember that she ultimately has spirit. She’ll tell you if, and only if, she’s ready to.”

Sirius eyes him. “B-but, how am I meant to feel that way if I do not know who the boyfriend is? She could be dating a manwhore for all I know, someone who’s only using her for popularity or something…”

Regulus smirked. “Relationships aren’t all that serious at her age anyway, Siri. Just look at how many girls you had on your arm.”

His older brother glared at him. “That was different.”

He chanced a laugh. “I suppose. So, do you want to say all that’s on your mind regarding this situation?” He deployed a new tactic.

Sirius sighed. “I’m obviously overreacting a bit, but I can’t help it. We’re once again living in times of tension and war, what if she gets hurt?!”

Reggie just nodded as his brother vented. He hadn’t known his niece for that long, but he could tell that Dorea was sensible and driven, and not someone who was that reckless. He knew that she was capable of protecting herself, due to her assertiveness, so he had no real qualms about her having a boyfriend. Though like his brother, he would definitely keep an eye on her. 

“... The boy could be a total scruff for all I know, or sleazy. An arrogant, controlling shit. Abuse happens in relationships, Reg, what if she gets hurt? I don’t know what I’d do if my baby..”

Wondering how on earth Sirius had gone from fuckboys to domestic abuse, Reggie could tell he was getting upset, especially by that last thought. He quickly tried to intervene. “Alright, that’s enough, Sirius. Get those thoughts out of your head, they’re not healthy for you.” He said as kindly as possible. “Dorea’s a strong girl, like her mother, and she has all your charisma too. If she was being abused, she would tell her family, and her friends. She’s never once given me cause for concern, so I trust that she’s happy.”

Sirius sniffed. “Being silly. B-but I just can’t help but… consider all possibilities.” 

He understood. “It’s fine, Siri, I get where you’re coming from. But just know this - if she ever gets hurt, the boy will have to watch out, for her crazy father and uncle will hex him into the next century. Oh, and her other uncle is a werewolf.”

Sirius laughed a bit, and Reggie felt accomplished he’d reassured him of that much. He felt warm as he laughed with his older brother. It felt like the good times. 

“Gosh, I feel like a right idiot, getting upset over nothing.” Sirius said, furiously rubbing his eyes.

“You have a right as her parent to be concerned. Just make sure you don’t dwell on thoughts like those that often, okay?” Regulus reassured him. 

Sirius nodded. After a few moments, his brother lit up. “Guess who I’ve managed to contact?”

Regulus eyed him, not sure. “I don’t know.”

“Andromeda.”

“Cousin Andy?!” Regulus piped up, surprised. Andromeda Black was the daughter of his uncle Cygnus, therefore making her their cousin. By default, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black were their cousins too, though they didn’t like to speak about that. 

“Yeah!” Sirius smiled with him, but then it faltered. “Well, I suppose you were made not to like her after she revealed she was marrying Ted Tonks.”

“I was… reminded, by father, that she was scum. Obviously I do not hold that grudge now.” Reggie explained, but then went back to the happier topic. “So, has she said anything?”

“Well, it was her birthday yesterday, and I thought it would be a nice surprise if we arranged to meet each other again - either at their house or ours. I thought Dorea could finally meet her. She’s coming tomorrow, when she and Dorea are going to London for shopping and lunch.”

Regulus nodded. “That will be good for both of them. They’ll bounce right off each other, that’s for sure. What about Nymph?”

Sirius grinned at the makeshift name for Tonks. “She’s working, I’m afraid, but she’ll probably come over at some point.”

Regulus had never met this Nymphadora Tonks, but from what Sirius had told him, she was a handful. A handful, but a spritely young woman all the same (according to Siri). Reggie rather liked the idea of the non-mad, decent members of the Black family reuniting (few as they were). He knew he had a lot to tell them - which would mean reciting his story again and again and again, but that was no real problem to him. He’d already done it a handful of times.

Dinner was a chilled affair, with Ophelia whipping up a simply delicious chicken, ham and leek pie for them all which all had them scrambling for second helpings. Young Theo kept praising his mother's cooking, with everyone agreeing dreamily. They were all sad when the tray was eventually empty. 

The house was quiet thereafter, as the kids all went back up to their rooms for the evening. Reggie did the same, though to his deep chagrin he’d fallen asleep - which meant he had dreamed of that dreaded night he and Kreacher had gone to that cave to do the impossible. He tried desperately to snap himself out of that dream, and he succeeded, though he’d seen almost all of it. He woke up with a cold start.

Running a hand through his hair, Regulus’s breathing was a bit rapid. It always was after he’d dreamed of that particular event.  _ I need to stop having nightmares,  _ he knew,  _ I’ll have to ask the kids if they have any Dreamless Sleep potions. That ought to do the trick. _

Just as he’d calmed down, he jumped a bit, for a voice was shrieking somewhere in the house. He heard it.

It was Sirius, and he sounded furious as he shouted, “ _ DOREA!” _

* * *

  
  


It was fair to say that Dorea Black was beyond a) scared and b) screwed. She knew just why her dad sounded angry.

Fred had sent another letter.

A chill went over her, and she suddenly felt everything closing in around her. He was  _ mad.  _ Amelia appeared in her doorway, “Do you think he’s found out?” Her godsister asked hesitantly.

Dorea nodded. “Oh yes it’s the only explanation. Fred didn’t take the hint.” She sighed nervously. “I’m in deep shit.”

With that, she shakily stood up and prepared herself for the unavoidable iratedness of her father. When she got to the stairs, the boys were standing at the juncture. “Was that Sirius shouting you?” Theo asked.

She nodded. “I think he’s just found out about me and Fred.”

Harry let out a low whistle. Blaise looked concerned, and Theo’s eyes had widened. “I have to get going, else he’ll just shout some more.” She quickly said, averting her eyes and leaving them. She didn’t want to get down the stairs so quickly, she just didn’t want her father screaming more. He was already angry, and he was just going to be more furious if she didn’t come and face him.

He was in the living room. Dorea’s worst fears were confirmed - in her father's hand, an envelope. She just knew it had to be from Fred. He had sent it through way too early for some reason, despite the fact they had talked about times to send the letters through the Floo. 

Sirius’s face tightened when he saw her. “Another letter.”

“It appears so,” she said, trying to sound calm. 

“But the thing is, this letter was already open when I found it.” He said, finally looking at her, “want to explain why Fred Weasley is writing to you?!”

She internally cursed herself when she felt her face flush. Her dad’s gray eyes were boring into hers, as if awaiting an explanation. He was holding anger back too.  _ Does he want me to straight up admit that Fred is my boyfriend, or does he want to see if I lie?  _ She thought frantically.

“Er… Well..”

“Why does Fred say those three words right at the end of the letter, eh?” Sirius Black asked, and you would have thought he was an Auror interrogating a criminal the way he was both eying her and speaking to her.

Looking down, Dorea’s heart dropped when she looked to the end of the letter writing, for Fred had finished the letter off by saying,  _ “I love you”.  _ There really was no way of getting out of this mess now. Taking a deep inhale of breath, she felt some courage come to her. She was going to be straight-up with her dad. “Well, that’s because he’s my boyfriend, y’see.”

Her father went rigid, though she knew he was expecting an answer of that sort. He smiled, yet it didn’t reach his eyes. “You what?”

She decided to throw some of her sass (which ironically she got from her dad) back in his face. “Didn’t you hear me, dad? I said it’s because Fred Weasley is my boyfriend.”

He loomed a bit closer, and she couldn’t help but feel a little bit scared. She knew her father would rather die than hurt or scare her, but his anger was almost overflowing. Dorea even knew that deep down it was justified. “And how long has this been going on for, eh? How long have you hid it from me, your own dad, for?”

“Since the end of June last year.” She said proudly.

“YOU WHAT?”

“Look, I know we’ve been going about it for almost ten months, but with everything that’s happened-”

“YOU’VE ALMOST BEEN DATING A YEAR WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE!” Sirius Black was downright furious.

“Dad, calm down-”

“-YOU EXPECT ME TO BE CALM, DOREA?  _ HOW?” _

This carried on for god knows how long. She was amazed he hadn’t gone hoarse. She knew her dad wasn’t angry at her, per say, he was just fuming in the moment. The accusations he was throwing around were also meaningless, she knew. At one point he even accused her of not trusting him, ‘ _ your own dad! _ ’.

Dorea swore she kept either sighing or rolling her eyes every few seconds. By this point she couldn’t get a word in edgeways. To put it fairly - if their house wasn’t detached in the middle of nowhere and they actually had neighbours, she knew that they would definitely have started calling the muggle police ages ago out of sheer concern and fright. 

“Dad,  _ will you shut up and listen to me?!”  _ She snapped, finally having enough. It worked, for her dad was silenced at last. He shot her a filthy look.

“First of all, you are blowing this  _ way _ out of proportion, dad. Yes, I know it was kinda wrong to keep it from you for so long - but maybe I was right to, the way you’re acting now! Second of all, I  _ do  _ trust you, believe it or not, but there are some things that I was understandably reluctant to tell you. Dad, honestly, Fred’s lovely-”

“-I don’t believe it.”

“You’ve spoken to him before! In fact, you said what a great admirer you were of him and George being the newest Hogwarts pranksters!”

“You still can’t date him.”

Dorea sighed exasperatedly. “ _ Dad!” _

“You’re not dating anybody until you’re 30.”

“Well that’s just impossible and unreasonable-”

“-40.”

“Right, that’s enough!” Dorea demanded her father to listen to her again. 

Sirius glared at her and crossed his arms. She didn’t expect him to speak, but he did. “I swear, if that boy  _ ever  _ lays a hand on you or disrespects you, he will feel my wrath.”

“And mine.” Came a third voice. Dorea turned around, and saw her uncle looming in the doorway.

“Uncle Regulus, tell dad he is nothing but an overprotective, overreacting, scruffy-looking mutt and that he needs to calm down.” Dorea said in a fake pleasant tone.

“Who are you calling scruffy-looking?” Sirius was about to protest even further, but his younger brother got there first. 

“She’s right, Sirius. Me and you talked about this just days ago, yet what do you do? Explode.”

“Wait, you talked about my dating situation?” Dorea was momentarily distracted.

“Your old man had his suspicions, that was all. Then he went into a meltdown.” Regulus whispered to her.

“B-but, she’s dating  _ Fred Weasley,  _ Reg!” 

“Oi, don’t say it like that! They’re technically like family anyway, right?” Regulus exclaimed.

“I don’t want him dating her.”

Regulus scoffed. “And why is that? Dorea, is Mr Weasley good to you, or is he a total sleaze ball?”

She almost giggled at his question. “He’s perfectly normal, uncle, almost a gentleman.”

“There we have it, then.” Her uncle turned back to his brother, clasping his hands together. “Dorea likes him, I like the sound of him, therefore  _ you _ , Mr Dramatic-Ass, have nothing to worry about.” He jabbed a finger in Sirius’s direction.

Her father sighed, annoyed. He was like that for a few moments, and you could tell he was getting his bearings back. “Dorea, does Fred really treat you right - like the queen that you are?”

Her heart warmed a bit at that. “Yes, dad, truly. We both love and respect one another and our boundaries. We’re really happy together.”

Amazingly, her dad’s eyes had softened, and he was looking down at his hands with the smallest smile. As he did some thinking, she eyed her uncle, still in the room. He smiled at her encouragingly. 

After a minute or so, he finally looked back up again. “I’m sorry for going all mad, sweetheart, I was just angry initially. I guess I can’t outrun the inevitable of you growing up any longer.”

She was silent as she weighed his words. “So… you’re accepting of me and Fred?”

His smile faltered a bit. “Reluctantly.”

Giggling, that was all she needed to hear. She flung into her dad's arms and hugged him tightly, a big smile on her face that after all that shouting and balling, she’d gotten through to him. He hugged her back, and she felt nothing but love.

“I can’t wait for the ‘meet-the-parent’ moment, honestly.” Regulus said as they detached themselves from their embrace, which they all laughed at. “I’d pay a hundred thousand galleons to watch poor Fred crumble under your gaze, Siri.”

“You better not terrorise him when that eventually happens!” Dorea warned her dad.

“There will be an interrogation, but it’ll all be for a laugh,” Sirius replied, and at her death glare he added, “probably.”

Just as they were about to leave, Dorea had gotten to the door when her dad called her name. Turning quickly, she looked at him expectantly. “Yes?”

“I just wanted to say - be safe. Take care of yourself. If any problems ever arise in your relationship, talk to your family. The people around you.”

“Even you? You’d rip Fred’s head off if you could.” She said, half-joking.

“ _ Especially _ me.” He said. Assuming he was done talking, she turned again and went to leave. But yet just when she’d gotten out the door, she heard her dad talking again, seemingly to himself. 

“Oh, Marlene, am I doing this right?” she smiled at that. He said something else after about five seconds which made her heart leap. “You’d have loved Fred, Marlene, you truly would have.”


	34. A Day Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, there's been so much delays in terms of writing this chapter. But hey ho, it's here!  
> Next chapter I might do a bit of a timejump and have the kids go back to school - I'm really eager to get to the OWL stage as I've got so many things planned, and as we know we're edging closer to certain things happening in canon...
> 
> Also, it's my little headcanon that Andromeda and Ted are wizard lawyers - I don't know why but I just feel it suits them. Their jobs aren't specified in canon so therefore I just made it my little thing that they're prominent in Amelia Bones's government.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faceclaim for Andromeda: Phoebe Tonkin  
> Faceclaim for Ted Tonks: James McAvoy  
> Faceclaim for Kaspar: Colin Farell  
> Faceclaim for Sofia: Emily Blunt

The next few days were revision packed, again. Harry thought it a good idea if they all went to the library and spent an entire morning revising History of Magic. Blaise and Theo were a bit reluctant, yet agreed all the same. The most important thing in History was remembering dates of things - and there were lots of them to remember.

“Right - Amelia, when were the Salem Witch Trials held?” He asked his twin sister, sitting across from him.

“1692?” She guessed after a few moments.

He nodded and said that was correct. He moved on to Blaise. “Blaise, when was the final Goblin Rebellion?”

Blaise immediately answered. “Pass.”

Theo chuckled. Harry smirked. “Are you two not that bothered about History?”

“Not really, it’s not like I need it anyway.” Was Blaise’s answer, as he went back to reading his Charms book.

“I want to pass it just for the sake of passing, but I’m not continuing with it subject or career wise. I’ll admit, it would be a far better subject if that ancient ghost wasn’t teaching it.” Theo responded.

Harry could see the logic in that. “These days I just drown out his voice by focusing on taking my own notes - works a charm.”

He continued just asking Amelia and Dorea the questions, since Blaise and Theo clearly had long given up revising for History. They did decently, though Harry got a bit stuck when they started asking him. He really needed to revise the Medieval Assembly of Wizards - as in, the topic they had only just gotten onto before Easter break. His notes were incomplete regarding it, which wasn’t good with OWLs just under six weeks away. He made a note in his book for later.

Their revision session brought them right up to lunch time. When they went downstairs, Theo’s mum had just taken a newly-made quiche out and started serving it up. Regulus Black and Barnaby had just come into the kitchen as well, after spending the morning outside.

“That Hippogriff is so cool!” Barnaby Lee sounded excited about meeting Buckbeak. “I’ve never had the chance to even study one before, but he was just so chill about meeting me!”

Harry smiled at that. Barnaby Lee was something of a creature addict. You wouldn’t expect that at all of someone who had a reputation of being tough for a fourth year. 

Over lunch, they all sat around the table and ate, again marvelling at the excellence of Ophelia Fortesque’s cooking. They had the Wizarding Wireless on mainly for background noise purposes, so that they weren’t totally in silence.

About halfway through, a particular story caught their attention. The radio host explained: “We have had reports within the last ten minutes that Rita Skeeter, previous Editor of the _Daily Prophet,_ has outrageously announced plans to start up her own newspaper, circulating what she calls ‘ _the real news’._ This comes after Skeeter and dozens of other ex- _Daily Prophet_ staff were forced to resign from their jobs by command of Minister Bones back in February.”

“What?” Was what everyone exclaimed. This was outrageous - Rita Skeeter was back reporting? Surely not…

“How’s that allowed?” Ophelia Fortesque said in near disbelief, “Wouldn’t the Ministry have to give her the go-ahead? I can’t see Amelia Bones letting Skeeter startup her own newspaper.”

“I bet Hermione’s delighted.” Dorea muttered.

“She’ll be back spreading smear campaigns against me now,” Harry said with realisation. “Just watch - I’ll be blamed for a goblin strike, or something.”

Mostly everyone chuckled at that, but without any humour to it. They all knew what this meant - utter rubbish would be back in circulation, and naive students and adults of the British wizarding public would ride the bandwagon of all that crap. They’d lap it all up, he just knew it. Even if Skeeter proclaimed that Harry was a descendant of Uric the Oddball, you just knew her readers would believe it and call for him to be sent to the psychology ward at St Mungo’s permanently for everyone's safety.

 _Surely I’m not going to have to convince people again?_ He thought with dread. It took months for even the students at Hogwarts to believe him, and that was with a revamp of the _Daily Prophet_ and a public apology from them _._ Would some of them go straight back to their old beliefs? It was unfortunately likely. After all his work…

When lunch was over and done with, he remained at the table for a few more minutes whilst everyone else was up about the kitchen helping to clean up. His mind was spinning with the revelation of the past few minutes; he really wasn’t looking forward to going back to school and having people look at him like they did before. All of a sudden, he felt overwhelmed and claustrophobic. The large kitchen felt like it was closing in on him. _Stupid Rita Skeeter._

When all the other occupants of Black Manor were either facing the sink or putting stuff away in cupboards and drawers, he took his chance and left as quickly and as quietly as possible. He let his body carry him back up the stairs to his bedroom, where hopefully nobody would come and cause more anxiety to him. 

As soon as he passed the threshold between the corridor and his doorway, he closed the door shut behind him and just slid down it, head in his hands. _She’s going to be undermining the Daily Prophet at every turn now, as revenge,_ he thought, groaning, _and people are going to be on her side._

Sighing, Harry felt weirdly relaxed all of a sudden. He simply just stared ahead of him. He came to a sudden conclusion; _I’ll still have supporters, no matter what,_ he thought, _the DA members proved that to me after the Bletchley and Harper incident, and they’ll do it again._

Most importantly, he knew his friends and his family would have his back. That was all that mattered, surely? Though a good chunk of the school were likely going to be back giving him dirty looks when school resumed, there were still hundreds of Junior and Senior DA members that would stand by him. 

He stayed like that another while, until Rita Skeeter was no longer in his brain and stressing him out to the max. He remained up against the door though, but was about to move when he heard footsteps out in the hall that brought him back into focus.

Then there was a knocking sound on his door. “Harry? You in there?”

It was Amelia’s voice. _Can always count on her to check up on me,_ he smiled. “Yeah.”

“Well… Can I come in?”

He stood up from his previous position and twisted the doorknob. When he pulled the door back, his twin sister stood expectantly. “Hullo.” He said awkwardly.

“Let’s talk.” Amelia moved into his bedroom. “I caught a glimpse of you leaving the kitchen quickly. I guessed you know fine well what will be the fallout from the Skeeter news.”

He nodded. “Yeah. But I’ve thought about it - I don’t even care.”

Amelia looked a bit startled. “Harry, how can you not care? Do you not know what this means? She’s going to go straight back to her old tactics of trying to make you and Dumbledore look like raving lunatics!”

“But don’t you see? I’m not that bothered if people choose to go back to believing her over me.”

Amelia was almost lost for words. “But _why?”_

“Because I - we, - have the DA on our side. Our friends. And _that_ is enough for me.”

It took a few moments for his twin to understand, but she almost lit up when she realised. “You’re right, brother.”

“Exactly. So long as we have our _true_ friends, we can walk past those dirty looks with our heads held high, knowing we still have believers.” He continued. Both of them were grinning now.

Later that day, Harry went to the Potions Lab with Blaise, Theo and Barnaby. He wanted to brush up on Potions that were specifically Healing Potions, as he was sure there would be questions regarding them in the Healing tests. Since the Lab was soon quiet with the other boys concentration anyway, he was able to sit at one of the benches and revise over his notes. The Healing theory and practical tests were only two weeks before the OWLs, after all. 

Just as he finished summarising a section regarding Bezoars and their nullifying effects on poisons, the door to the Potions Lab was near sprung open. Barnaby let out a noise of fright. Dorea was standing in the doorway. Harry elected to ignore the giddy face that Theo was aiming in the direction of Blaise. “Harry, Ginny is calling through the Floo.”

“What?” He was confused.

“The Weasley’s have just heard of the news regarding Skeeter. They’re wanting to check on you. His godsister repeated.

He got up out of his seat and went to leave the room. He followed Dorea. “She’s on the Floo in the living room. I think Fred and George are there too.”

He nodded, and walked briskly down the very long hall until he reached the living room. When he got in, he shut the oak door behind him and went over to the fireplace. When he kneeled in front of it, he could hear background noise on the other end - probably Ginny or the twins.

“Oh, Harry, there you are!” George exclaimed. Their faces looked a bit weird in the fire.

“I’m here.” He said. “And I’m fine, before you ask.”

“Are you sure about that?” Fred asked. “Even though you know what drivel Skeeter’s about to spread about you again?”

“Yes,” he chuckled, “in fact, I don’t really care about what she has to say.”

“But you know she’s going to harm your image?” Ginny spoke. “People are going to believe her over the _Prophet._ ”

“I’ve thought about it. I’ve come to a solid conclusion as well - so long as my friends in the DA have my back, nothing can harm me.” He said, confidently this time.

Fred and George looked surprised but in awe. “That’s brave.”

“It is, but that’s how I’m going about it. If other people hate me, I don't care. I have a great friend group who supported me the last time somebody tried to hurt me, and they’ll do it again and again.”

The three Weasley’s were quiet for a few seconds as they listened, and even though their faces were represented by ashes, you could tell they agreed with him. “We’ve got your back, Harry, we just thought we’d let you know that.” Ginny said.

“As if I’d ever doubt you lot,” he snickered, then he realised, “where’s Ron?”

“Mum has him back at our house, cleaning the whole downstairs, as he tried to ask a drunk Mundungus about the Order.” Fred supplied.

Harry smirked at the thought of that. Then he had a thought. “Wait, if Ron’s back at the Burrow, and you lot are at Grimmauld Place…”

“Oh, we’re literally going back home in 5 minutes. We just thought we’d call before we left - we only heard about the Skeeter malarkey about ten minutes ago, via Elphias Doge.” George said, then his face disappeared out of the flames for a moment or two. He could hear muffled talking. 

Then Fred spoke. “Mum’s wanting me and George for something. We’ll see you in a week or so, Harry.”

Just as he said farewell, the twins were gone, and it was just him and Ginny. “How’s revision going?” She asked him with a knowing grin.

“Decent, but I’ve barely started on Runes and Arithmancy.” He replied, smiling. “When is Astoria going to your house again?”

“The seventh,” Ginny responded, “I can’t wait to see her. Though I’m not sure what we’ll actually do - she’s only staying until four o’clock.”

He nodded. “I’m sure you two will figure something out. Just spend the day talking, or better yet revise for your fourth year tests.” He said in part-jest towards the end.

Ginny laughed loudly. “You sound like mum and dad!” Then she paused, “And Percy.”

There was a silence for a few seconds. To be honest, Harry had forgotten about Percy. He had assumedly lost his job as Personal Assistant to the Minister when Fudge was voted out of office. He hadn’t heard a thing about him since. It was clear Ginny was feeling awkward now. He decided to tread the water carefully. “Is Percy… still not speaking to you all?”

“Not a word. The last we heard, he’s the Court Scribe at the Ministry, there at all the trials copying everything down like a machine. Even with a brand new government and newspaper, he’s not for speaking.” The youngest Weasley explained, with a tad bit of venom.

“Oh,” Harry felt awkward asking now. “Well, it’s only a matter of time before he sees the truth.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. He’s a little bootlicker, that’s what he is.” Ginny said. She also added a few choice words to the end of that statement.

Harry chuckled. There was a comfortable silence for a few seconds. Ginny spoke again soon enough, though. “Harry, are you sure that you’re alright? You can tell me, the twins aren’t here. I know you were bound to be stressed about Skeeter returning to journalism, I just hope you aren’t letting it get to you.”

“I was.” He admitted to her, straightening up. “I felt overwhelmed, panicked, all sorts. Like the room was closing in on me. I left the kitchen as soon as I could and shut myself in my room. I literally just thought of bad things, and it made me stressed. But then I felt at ease as soon as I realised that my friends and family would have my back - and that was all I needed.”

Ginny looked very thoughtful. “That’s a good way of going about it; and it’s true that we’ll all have your back, Harry. I’ll Bat-Bogey Hex anyone that doesn’t.”

He laughed then, a true laugh. “Start with Malfoy and his gang.”

“He’s been on my list for quite a while,” Ginny said through a giggle, “if he even looks in your direction when we go back, I’ll be on him.”

They spent a minute or so talking some more, but eventually good things had to come to an end. Mrs Weasley could be heard shouting for Ginny, which could only mean they were going back to the Burrow. “Home time,” the girl said after shouting a ‘coming!’ back to her mum, “I’ll see you back at school, Harry.”

“Farewell,” he said a bit weakly, “I’ll see you then.”

With that, the Floo call ended. Harry had a sudden feeling then - it was like he was yearning for Ginny to come back on the call. He stared into the now-empty fireplace and willed it to happen. He just felt really good after getting a few things off his chest, and distracting him from the recent news. It was like Ginny knew, and had called him for that reason.

He stayed in his current position for a few seconds longer. He was actually about to get up when he got a sudden fright - for the Floo blared to life once again and this time, someone emerged from it. Someone’s legs were suddenly in his face.

He fell backwards slightly onto the carpet, and readjusted his glasses before steadying his breathing and looking up at whoever it was.

Luckily, it was just Remus. “Harry, why on earth were you sitting in front of the fireplace? I almost stood on you!”

“Oh, erm, Ginny called me via the Floo from Grimmauld Place,” he said as he brushed himself off.

He swore Remus smirked a little bit. “I’m just back from there myself. Doge told us about Skeeter. I’m assuming you’ve heard-”

“-about how Skeeter’s starting up her own paper and is likely going to be snidely mentioning me at every turn? Yep, I’ve heard, Moony.”

Remus let out a laugh. “And are you bothered by it?”

“Not at all.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I have tonnes of people who’ll support me no matter what. Nothing and nobody can hurt me knowing that they’re there for me.” He said with confidence as he got back up on his feet.

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Where did this new Harry come from?” He said, half-amused.

“I don’t know where he came from, but all I know is that he’s not gonna let Rita Skeeter affect him in the slightest.” He added.

He had no clue if that last part was true or not, but he knew he was going to try his best and not let the women's waffle get to him mentally. 

* * *

The next morning, Dorea woke up at the reasonable time of nine. The early spring sun was shining outside, she could tell by how her curtains were holding back light from splaying into her bedroom. When she got up to actually open her curtains, she was surprised to see that it was slightly foggy - a light haze surrounding the perimeter of the Manor.

She got dressed into something quite simple - a sweatshirt that was neither too heavy nor too light, and some jeans that had a slight leathery look to them. Dorea thought they looked really cool, though she couldn’t remember where she actually got them from. To finish the look, she put on a semi-long necklace that Fred had gotten her for Valentine’s Day; it was gold, and apparently second-hand, but she loved it nonetheless. 

Tummy rumbling, she went downstairs in search of some food. Amelia appeared to be awake, as her bedroom door was ajar and her curtains open, yet she wasn’t in there. She found it a bit odd that she could neither hear nor find any of the boys, but assumed they were either brewing, studying or flying outside.

She heard a few voices coming from the living room, so assumed they were all in there. Just as she walked past it, though, she peeked in and saw her dad talking to a stranger.

The stranger was a woman, and a pretty one at that. She flinched a bit when the woman's eyes drifted towards her and sighted her. Her father turned around at that moment. “Ah, Dorea, there you are. Come in, sweet girl.”

Curious more than anything, she stepped into the living room and towards her father. She knew this must be a trusted person, else her dad would never have given them access to Black Manor. She did look familiar, though Dorea couldn’t really put a finger on where she’d seen a woman that looked like this before…

“Dorea, this is my cousin, Andromeda.” Her dad introduced her.

It clicked then. That was why she looked so familiar - for the woman Andromeda looked a lot like Bellatrix Lestrange. “Hello, Dorea, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you after so long.”

Dorea smiled back and said a hello, and then her father continued. “We’ve decided that you and Andromeda will have a nice day out together in London. It’ll just be you two, but then Ted will be joining you both at some point. So go out, spend some cash, and have some fun!”

Dorea grinned, and her - second cousin? Did so likewise. Her father continued. “I’ve already got some money converted for you - one thousand muggle pounds. Go out and blow it on whatever you want, darling.”

With that, Sirius handed her a zipped wallet, assumedly filled with the cash. It felt like an awful lot, she wasn’t even sure if she’d spend all of it. Just as she slipped it into a pocket for safekeeping, Andromeda was linking her arm with hers. “Let’s get going!”

“So long as you’re back before dinner, I don’t mind.” Sirius said as he followed them both to the front door. “If there’s any trouble, you’ll know what to do, Andy.”

The woman nodded, and waited patiently as Dorea grabbed a jacket for herself just in case the weather turned. When she was ready to go, she smiled at the woman.

“Right, we’ll see you later, Siri!” Andromeda called behind her as they exited through the front door. Dorea looked back, and her father waved affectionately as he watched them walk down the front garden path.

“The Apparition point is just at the end of the path, dear,” Andromeda explained, pointing ahead. Dorea just nodded as she transferred the wallet of money into her inside jacket pocket so it was even more safe and unlikely to fall out.

“Okay, we’re here. Gosh, the house looks gargantuan from down here… Okay, have you ever been in a Side-Along Apparition, Dorea?” The woman smiled at her.

“Only once,” she answered politely, though she was starting to feel a bit sick at the thought of going through it again.

Andromeda smiled knowingly. She stuck her lower arm out, and Dorea grabbed it. Within moments, they were being pulled by their navels into the horrible transition that was Apparating. It didn’t last that long, though, and before she could even comprehend they were suddenly appearing in a random alleyway, assumedly in London. When Dorea got her bearings, the sound of the city was soon in her ears.

“You good?” Andromeda asked, grinning knowingly.

“Yup,” Dorea answered, trying to sound confident, yet she had a feeling she was a positive shade of green.

“When we turn out of this alleyway we should come out and be on Charing Cross. I’m sure we’ll find a nice little place to get some breakfast in us.” Andromeda explained, as she straightened her coat and started walking forwards, gesturing Dorea to follow. 

Dorea didn’t really know London that well, but she knew they were now on Charing Cross - for a big London Underground sign signalled an entrance to the tube station of the same name. Though it was April, it felt like a winter’s day, strangely - it was sunny, yet cold. She was glad she’d dressed appropriately. 

They found a cute little cafe after a minute or so of walking and deciding, and entered. A waft of warm air hit Dorea, which she welcomed. The two of them found seats by the window, and had a look through the menu.

“So, dear, let's get to know each other,” Andromeda smiled, and placed a hand over hers, “how’s school? Sirius didn’t tell me all that much. What subjects are you doing?”

Dorea was all but happy to talk. Since the muggle cafe was pretty busy for this early in the morning, she spoke in a normal tone instead of lowering her voice. “School’s going great, actually. This year is my OWL year, so as you could imagine the next month and a half is going to be pretty stressful. I’m doing Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, Defence, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.”

She smirked at the shocked look on Andromeda Black’s face. “Crikey, _eleven_ OWLs? That’s more than I ever did!”

“Because I revise a lot, it’s quite easy to manage them all. Though my timetable is pretty packed.” She added, and the woman across from her nodded. “What subjects did you do at school?”

“Oh, all the core ones - yes, even History. I did try and do Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in third and fourth year, but I dropped them before fifth. Astronomy is a speciality subject of the Black family, so I was very good at that all the way through school. Speaking of which, I heard Sirius now teaches that subject?” Andromeda answered.

Dorea nodded, trying not to laugh. “To my chagrin, yes, he does.”

The woman opposite her laughed. They continued talking before a waitress came over and ordered their food and drinks: Dorea ordering tea and her usual toasted bagel, whilst Andromeda ordered some coffee and pancakes. When they were left alone again, conversation resumed. Andromeda told her that she worked at the Ministry, as she’d been newly appointed to the Wizengamot by Minister Amelia Bones. “I’m the Minister’s Undersecretary, which is a huge honour. Though I primarily specialise in wizarding law, it gets incorporated into that as well as I get to sit at all the councils and hearings. My husband Ted does Wizard Law as well, though I warn you he likes to drone on about it.”

Dorea found that fascinating, that the woman opposite her was in such a high position of power. She didn’t act superior in any way at all, which was great, she was just a normal person. “I imagine it’s quite stressful, though.” Dorea added.

“Oh yes, especially with the increased Death Eater activity. Raids are being planned, and simultaneously Madam Bones is clearing anyone with Death Eater sympathies out of the Ministry. Though she’s having trouble with a certain Malfoy… Anyway, enough of that. Tell me more about you, dear.”

So Dorea did. She explained a bit about her personal life and talked a bit more about her school life too - her friends there and what not. The woman listened tentatively and nodded throughout. When their breakfast came, they gladly ate. Dorea’s bagel was delicious, and noises of approval were coming from Andromeda, so it was safe to assume breakfast went down a treat for both parties.

Once they were done and had paid (Dorea insisted, since she had a thousand quid to spend), they exited the little cafe and began shopping in earnest. They took the Tube to Oxford Street and began milling around for about an hour - after just four shops, both of Dorea and Andromeda’s arms had at least one bag on them. Dorea honestly had bought herself a new wardrobe practically, and Andromeda was going all out too.

Their shopping took them up to lunch time, where they stopped to chill for a minute.

“Right, we’re meeting Ted for lunch at a place called Townsend, which is in Whitechapel, at twelve forty-five. We best get going.” Andromeda told her, as they walked down the steps of another tube station, on their way to this place. “He’s been dying to go to this place for months. In fact, when I told him about this day, he was begging me to make a reservation at this place!” Dorea giggled at that.

It took about half an hour on the Tube to get from Oxford Street to Whitechapel, and it included a change of train about halfway through. That wasn’t too stressful, though - Andromeda seemed to be really good at understanding muggle systems for someone who was pureblood. But she supposed that came with having a husband that was muggleborn. 

At twelve thirty-five, they arrived at the restaurant where they were meeting Ted Tonks for lunch. They stopped by a bench so Andromeda could check her watch. “Right, we’re a bit early, do you think we should meander around in this general vicinity or just go inside and order our drinks while we wait for Ted? It’s up to you, dear.”

Dorea thought for a moment. “After all this shopping, I think I need a drink. We can easily have a shop around here after lunch.”

Her cousin giggled at that first bit in understanding. The two of them made their way towards the restaurant, which on first impressions looked very clean and maybe a bit posh. There was a lunch menu protected in laminate fixed to the wall just beside the entrance.

When they got inside, Dorea thought it was definitely a very clean place - everything looked spotless. There were clean glasses hanging down above the bar, and a waiter was polishing freshly dried ones and delicately hanging them up with the rest. There were only a handful of people actually sitting and eating, but Dorea liked the glimpses she caught of their food; it looked very appetising.

It wasn’t long before a spritely young waitress approached them and greeted them. Andromeda started speaking right away. “Hiya, we have a reservation booked for twelve forty-five, under the name Tonks?”

The waitress scanned a book which was perched on a stand of some sort before smiling at them. “I’ll show you to your table.”

They followed her to a window seat which was in the corner, and gave a good view of the steps that lead up to the restaurant and the adjacent street. They gladly set their shopping bags down under the table at their feet, glad to not carry them for another while. Dorea took her coat off and placed it on the back of her chair. The waitress laid out three menus.

“Would you like to order drinks whilst you wait for the third member of your party?” The waitress asked them.

“Yes. Could I have a fresh orange and lemonade please?” Andromeda didn’t even look at the drinks menu.

The waitress nodded and noted that down in her little notebook. Dorea quickly realised that she would have to make a choice in a few seconds. She had a sudden urge to have hot chocolate - even though it was April, outside it was definitely hot chocolate kind of weather. But would it be a bit much? It was only lunch.

“Erm, can I have a hot chocolate, please?” She ended up saying, though she sounded a bit unsure. Andromeda just gave her a smile.

“Of course. Would you like cream and marshmallows with it?” The waitress asked, smiling. This time, with more confidence, Dorea nodded and said please. With that, the young lass left them.

Drinks arrived a few minutes later, and with that they started engrossing in more conversation. It took them right up until twelve forty-five, when a jingling sound indicated the door to the place being opened.

“Here’s Ted now,” Andromeda said, looking over her shoulder. Dorea looked around as well. She easily caught sight of him as he gave them a wave. He looked a very cheery man - not particularly tall or squat, but you could tell he and Andromeda were similar ages. He looked with fascination up and around the restaurant, clearly delighted he was finally getting to try it out.

He slid into the seat next to his wife, and kissed her cheek. “Hello, Andy,” he said, and then faced her. “You must be Dorea… Gods, you look like your dad alright!” He said.

Dorea grinned, and gladly shook his hand across the table. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

They talked for a few minutes before the waitress came back over and took their orders (though in Ted’s case he also ordered his drink). Dorea chose a baked potato, whilst Ted went with a quiche which he liked the sound of. Andromeda went with a ham and butternut squash soup. When they were left alone again, Dorea decided to start another conversation.

“I hear you also work at the Ministry, Ted?” She asked him as she spooned another mouthful of whipped cream and marshmallows into her mouth.

“Oh yes, I’m basically a lawyer. Although I don’t have a set department that I work in - I just kind of work everywhere. As you could imagine, that gets _very fun_ at times.” The man said, and said that last bit with a drip of sarcasm. “Though Madam Bones has been very kind and isn’t planning to arrest every single Death Eater at once. That will easily lessen my workload a bit - there’s nothing worse than having to look at every single case at once.”

“See what I mean?” Andromeda leaned forward and whispered to her, referring to earlier where she said her husband liked to drone on about his work. Dorea smirked at that.

They spoke a while more, and Dorea found her cheeks hurting after a while - from smiling, since Ted and Andromeda together were very funny and easy to talk to. When the food arrived, the conversation changed; for they were very impressed with their lunch choices. Dorea wanted to savour every bite of hers, she was practically in love. Ted and Andromeda kept making noises of approval as well.

Lunch brought them right up until half past one, since they spent that much time talking. They had some hot drinks after their meal, and Dorea was glad to have another cup of tea. When it came to paying, the bill came up to £45. Though that was less than what she was expecting, she paid it nonetheless (though Ted insisted, since the reservation was under his name). Dorea felt quite grown up paying for things herself.

Ted soon had to go back to work, since he had a department meeting at two. Dorea almost didn’t want him to go, for she liked the man's company. But she supposed there would be other days. 

When they said farewell to Ted, Dorea and Andromeda very much agreed to go back to shopping. They stayed in the Whitechapel area and milled about the shops. She honestly didn’t know how long they spent, but they spent a good amount of money.

At three, they took the tube back into central London. When they got there, they had thought about concluding their day shopping and decided to go to the John Lewis department store for one last mill around. Andromeda wanted a few things for her home there. Dorea wasn’t bothered in the slightest what shop they went to, for she had a feeling she’d find things she liked everywhere.

When they got in, Andromeda wanted to quickly go to the bathroom. Dorea nodded, and perched up against a pillar whilst she waited for her. Scanning her eyes and relaxing, something caught Dorea’s eye.

In one of the many shops within the building, there was one which was dedicated to music. In the window of one of them, there was something that Dorea recognised - a muggle music player. She knew that Harry had used one before - he’d said that he and Susan had used one in the Room of Requirement that one time he’d worked on Occlumency with her. They required a physical disc called a record in order to play the music. Dorea remembered how fascinated she’d been with them.

She counted her remaining money - £320 left. She walked closer to the window of the shop to look at the price. It was only £55. _This is great news,_ she thought. She would have to be quick, though, as Andromeda would probably be done any second now. She didn’t want her worrying she’d gone missing or something.

Walking inside the shop, she quickly found where the record players were and found the one that was on display in the window. Realising she’d have to buy the physical vinyl records as well, she sighed before looking through the piles of them. Dorea wasn’t the biggest expert on muggle music, but she did like quite a few bands.

Without even thinking of the cost, she picked up vinyls of Queen, Abba, and Fleetwood Mac and went to pay for them. The box of the record player wasn’t even that heavy. Once she paid, she quickly made room for it all in one of the shopping bags she had already and carefully placed them in there. _Oh I’ve got a great idea for this…_ She thought to herself, smirking.Exiting the shop, she made her way back over to the pillar she was previously up against. She was lucky, for Andromeda emerged about ten seconds later.

“Gosh, there was practically a queue for toilets in there. It was so busy… Right, let's get back to shopping, shall we?” The woman grinned.

They took the escalator up to the first level where more of the clothes and homeware type shops were. Dorea didn’t really care about buying home stuff, but she went into the shop with her cousin either way, choosing to just stand around and wait for her, or give an opinion about something Andromeda wanted to buy. When Andromeda went to look at some bed duvets that caught her eye, Dorea kept a respectable distance. Her eyes started wandering around the shop whilst she waited - wondering what her father and the others back at Black Manor were doing right now. She also wondered about her other friends and what they were up to. She knew her fifth year friends were probably either revising extra hard or trying to relax and chill out. Easter holidays this year weren’t really holidays as such, not with exams just around the corner.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name. She quickly refocused and brought herself back to reality. When she located her cousin, she realised that it couldn’t have been her calling her - for Andromeda Tonks was eying up a thick looking bed throw. That was odd..

Looking around, she wondered if she’d just imagined it. That was probably likely - the other people in the shop would have no way of knowing her, they were all random muggles assumedly. Unless someone from school was here?

She looked around her, and her heart just about jumped when she caught eyes with people she did recognise.

Kaspar and Sofia, who were previously her guardians.

They stood near the front of the shop, and looked at her lovingly. They had willingly let her go and live with Sirius at the end of fourth year, but even she’d been reluctant to leave them - for they were so loving and caring in the time she’d spent with them. And now they were mere feet away.

She scolded herself then, for she realised she hadn’t written to them since Christmas. School had just been that hectic she’d clean forgot. Dorea felt a bit shit in that moment, but she pushed that aside - she could make it up to them now.

She practically jogged over and flung her arms around them. ”Oh, sweet girl,” Kaspar said in that funny little English-Swedish hybrid accent that she remembered so well, “we’ve missed you.”

“Tonnes.” Sofia said, pulling back and patting her affectionately. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry I haven’t written since December!” She instantly profusely apologised. “I’ve been so-”

“-It’s alright, dear, we understand.” Kaspar cut her off, insisting it was fine.

“Besides, we are members of the Order,” Sofia added, lowering her voice, “we get constant updates about you anyway, from your father.”

“You know dad?” She was a bit surprised at that. She knew they’d have interacted by now at meetings and stuff, but she didn’t know to what extent.

“Oh yes, Sirius practically loves us for how well we took care of his baby girl.” Kaspar pinched her cheek softly, something he used to do. She grinned at him.

Sofia and Dorea were about to speak, but Andromeda had found her. “Oh, who’s this?” The woman said in a polite tone.

“Oh, Andromeda, this is Kaspar and Sofia - they were my guardians whilst dad was… unavailable to take care of me.” She introduced them. They shook hands with her cousin, who loosened up around them. Before she’d obviously been wary. “Kaspar, Sofia, this is my father’s cousin Andromeda Tonks.”

“We’ve heard about you from the Order,” Sofia made the connection, “though we must keep going to the meetings that you can’t attend, for we always hear your name in the Apologies.”

“That must be true. Oh well, we’re meeting now, that’s the main thing.” Her cousin said cheerily. It was plainly obvious that the three adults wanted to talk about Order-related stuff, but couldn’t due to Dorea being there. They all talked with one another for the next few minutes.

“We should let you get back to your shopping,” Kaspar said, clasping his hands together, “we’ve got to get going.”

“Oh yes, we’ve still got cash to spend.” Andromeda said, and shared a look with Dorea. 

“In the summer holidays you could some and spend a day with us,” Sofia said to Dorea, “you know, for a catch-up.”

“That would be great!” Dorea agreed instantly. “We can owl each other suitable dates. Just send them through the Floo to Grimmauld Place and I’m sure we can agree on something.”

Dorea would have mentioned Black Manor to them, but decided not to. Besides, it would be pointless, as they didn’t have access to the house so therefore couldn’t send anything. She made a mental note to talk to dad about setting them up for a connection - maybe not direct access, but maybe a channel in the Floo where they could send letters to one another or something.

Reluctantly saying farewell, Dorea watched as her two previous guardians walked away and out of the shop. She felt a bit crap watching them leave again after such a short amount of time of seeing them again, but she hoped one day in the near future she’d get to spend a lot more time with them, catching up on everything. 

“They seemed like great people,” Andromeda remarked as they went back to browsing.

“They were, they are.” Dorea replied, nodding, “they really did act like parents when I was in their care.”

Andromeda smiled at her. She seemed to notice the slight sadness and yearning in her tone. The woman then said something so quietly Dorea almost missed it - “I wish I had parents like them in my life.”

They concluded their day shopping at four o’clock in the afternoon, and took the Tube back to Charing Cross, where they went down the same alleyway they had Apparated to, assumedly to Apparate back to Black Manor. Dorea took the chance to thank her cousin for the day out before she forgot to, but Andromeda insisted she should be the one thanking Dorea, for she paid for breakfast and lunch. Overall, Dorea felt great about spending the day relaxing and buying whatever she wished. She hoped there were more days like this to come.

What Andromeda had so quietly said back in the shop, though, stuck with her. She hadn’t wanted to ask about it in case it brought up bad memories, but she made a mental note for when she got back to either research or ask her dad about Cygnus and Druella - who she knew were Andromeda’s parents (and subsequently, Bellatrix and Narcissa’s parents too). She felt quite sad that her cousin hadn’t had such a great life at all in terms of childhood.

  
  
  
  



	35. Last Days of Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter... I honestly don't know what went through my head writing this skskskks. I feel its very lighthearted though, before they have to get all serious back at school.

The remainder of the school Easter holidays seemed to fly by. Harry and the others really seemed to be quite badly affected by it - for they seemed to spend every second revising. Blaise being Blaise was extra concerned about brewing every Potion in the curriculum 3 times without the instructions, so they barely saw him except for meals and breaks. Harry really focused his remaining time revising Arithmancy and Ancient Runes - though he spent more time on the former, as he considered it his hardest and worst subject. Runes was basically memorising grammar and structure, since you were allowed a Runes Dictionary in your exam anyway, which made it that bit easier. On Tuesday, Harry nearly mushed his brain with the amount of Arithmancy work he did all in that one morning period.

“Hey, did you not hear Theo’s mum calling? It’s lunch time.” He heard a voice from his doorway, which turned out to be Barnaby Lee.

He flinched a bit, but relaxed when he saw him. “Oh gosh, sorry, I think I’ve just killed every last one of my brain cells.”

The fourth year laughed at that. “Let me guess - Arithmancy?”

Harry nodded. “I’m assuming you don’t take it?”

“There’s no way I’d be able to understand it. I take Runes though - apparently I have family in Canada that translate them for a living, according to my mum. She thought it fitting if I took it, in hopes I might set my sights there one day.”

“Canada?” Harry was surprised at that. 

“Yup.” Barnaby said, popping the p. “Not that her opinion even matters now though, as I don't live with her or father anymore. I really have no clue if I ever will go there, but there’s time to decide I guess.”

Harry got up, thankful for a break at last. He walked beside Barnaby as they went down to the kitchen to grab some much-needed lunch. Theo’s mum had made some toasted sandwiches for them all, which made the kitchen smell amazing. Ditsy and Dippey were handing them plates as soon as they got into the kitchen, ever loyal to Ophelia Fortesque.

After lunch, Harry felt a bit cheesed that he had to get back to Arithmancy revision. He only had two more topics to go, but they were by far the hardest. Though they did involve the Personality Numbers, which Anthony had helped him with, he still needed to cement it into his mind. He remembered he did make a few mind maps, flashcards and other revision stuff with Susan though… He would fish them out of his bag.

On his way to his own bedroom, he walked past Theo’s. “Hey, mate.” He said goodnaturedly.

Theo looked up from his desk. “Hello,” he called back, a bit tiredly.

“How’s revision going?” Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

“Terribly,” his sister's boyfriend replied, “well, not as bad as I thought, but lately it feels as if things go in one ear and out the other. Barnaby helps when he can, but he is only a fourth year after all.”

“What are you trying to revise now?” Harry asked.

“Transfiguration.” Theo replied. “I’ve made some flashcards. Do you want to test me?”

He agreed, thinking this a good way to have a break from Arithmancy but still be revising. He stepped into the boys room, and Theo gestured to him to sit on his bed. “Right, here’s the cards. They should all be question-side up. Fire away.”

Harry nodded, and picked the first one up. He read it aloud: “What is the incantation to turn a rat into a wine goblet?”

“That’s second year stuff - _Vera Verto.”_ Theo answered with confidence.

Harry nodded, and shuffled the flashcards so that a new question was in front of him. “What is the purpose of the spell _Duro?”_

Theo had a thought. “Erm, is that the one that transforms things into stone?”

Harry flipped the card round to double-check the answer. Theo was correct.

This little impromptu study session carried on for about ten minutes, until they got back to the first card again. Overall, despite the fact Theo thought Transfiguration was his worst subject, he was actually quite good at the theory stuff. The Slytherin’s didn’t have Transfiguration at the same time as the Gryffindor’s, so Harry couldn’t judge how good the boy was at actually casting the spells, but he assumed he was decent at that side of things too.

That evening at dinner, they were just tucking into some enchiladas when Sirius made a little announcement at the head of the table. “I have to be at Grimmauld Place in an hour for an Order meeting,” he had said, “and you kids are coming.”

“Ooh, why?” Dorea asked.

“Well, Blaise, Barnaby and Theo want to have a look through the library there with my permission, and I reckon you three will want to be seeing the Weasley’s?”

They all perked at that, and nodded. Harry would ask the boys about what books they were planning to look for after. His heart fluttered when he realised that there was an entirely possible likelihood that Ginny was bound to be there. He willed himself to all but gobble his dinner down, no matter how hot and spicy it was.

Ten minutes before they had to leave for the meeting, Harry walked on to the staircase and caught sight of Dorea and Amelia looking quite suspicious. Amelia had her wand out, which he was startled at, but then remembered they could use magic as they were in a highly secret location. “What are you two doing?” He asked suspiciously.

“Shrinking this,” Dorea answered, holding a box. Harry realised it was the box containing the muggle record player that his god sister had bought during her day out with Andromeda Tonks in London.

“And these,” Amelia supplied, his twin producing vinyl records from inside her jacket, which were promptly shrunken down with a _Reducio_.

“What on earth are you two planning? Why are you taking the record player to Grimmauld?”

“Let’s just say this - the adults won’t let us in on the meetings, so as punishment, we’re going to give them hell for it.” Dorea responded, the two girls bursting into cheeky giggles.

Shaking his head but still smiling nervously, Harry followed them down the stairs and chose to keep silent when they put the shrunken items into their pockets.

“Right, are we ready?” Sirius asked as he walked into the entrance hall of Black Manor. He had just evidently pulled on a thick coat, though Harry wondered why he would need it if they were going to be inside the house. “Okay, since there is a Floo connection between the two houses, we can just go on straight away. Oh, before I forget - Theo, Blaise, Barnaby, read this bit of paper, but don’t say anything, just memorise it,”

Sirius handed Barnaby the sheet of paper first - which assumedly was the same bit of paper Harry had seen at the start of summer; the one detailing the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Barnaby quickly read it before passing it to Theo, who then skimmed over it and passed it to Blaise, who silently read it.

Sirius went to the Floo first. “Number 12, Grimmauld Place!”

With that, he was gone, presumably to the house. Dorea went next, then Amelia, then Blaise had a go. Theo went in after him, and then Harry offered to bring up the rear, so Barnaby went next. Lastly, Harry went in, and said loudly and clearly the address of the house.

When he got there, he immediately recognised the cavernous kitchen. Everyone else was in there. He was immediately met by Hermione and Ron.

“Oh, Harry, we’ve missed you too!” Hermione said, immediately swamping him in a hug.

“Let him breathe, ‘mione.” Ron jested, before hugging him straight after. As Harry gladly accepted the hug, he opened his eyes and realised Ginny was in his line of sight, and was looking at him from across the room. His eyes fluttered a bit, before he forced his gaze away and to pull back from the hug.

“Right, the meeting starts in five minutes. Sirius, show the boys where that library is, quickly.” Mrs Weasley announced. Sirius nodded, and took Theo, Blaise and Barnaby supposedly out of the room and up the stairs. “The rest of you youngsters, out!”

Fred and George grimaced loudly, though they led the way to the stairs, Harry and the others following suit. He realised he was right beside Ginny as they walked up the stairs. “How has your break been?”

She grinned at him, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that, after the Floo conversation?” She laughed. “It’s been good. Really good, actually. Astoria and I had great fun when she came over.”

“That’s great,” Harry said honestly, “I knew you two wouldn’t be bored for a moment. Did she say how Daphne was doing?”

“She’s been studying hard, but other than that she’s been taking it easy. Oh, and guess what?” Ginny replied, though she didn’t give him a chance to even guess before giddily answering, “Anthony Goldstein finally asked Daph out, and she said yes!”

Harry smiled brightly then. Both at Ginny’s happiness and the fact that his two close friends were finally in a relationship. He knew that those two had been in the talking stage for quite a while, but he felt delighted for them. _Gosh, it’s kinda down to me that they met in the first place,_ he realised, _they met through the DA, my creation, after all…_ He couldn’t wait to congratulate them both when they went back on Sunday. 

They finally arrived at the boys room, where Fred and George had led them to. As soon as they were inside, Dorea and Amelia immediately scrambled to get the shrunken items out of their pockets.

“What on earth?” Hermione asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion. 

“I don’t know what’s going on here but I like it.” Was all Ron said, eyes wide and curious, wondering where this was going. Harry just held a mirthful look. 

“Right, babe, what’s this then?” Fred asked, walking closer to Dorea.

“Well, you know what the adults are like with us in terms of the Order - very hush-hush.”

“As they should be!” Hermione quickly cut Dorea off, clearly not liking where this was going.

Dorea just rolled her eyes playfully. “Well, since they’re not going to let us in on the meetings anytime soon, let's just annoy them until they do.”

Ginny, Ron and the twins immediately caught on and made noises of approval and triumph. Then it was a mad rush to help get the record player and vinyls to normal size and to get them set up, whilst Hermione protested and sulked in the corner.

Blaise, Theo and Barnaby came into the room just in time, each with dark looking books in their hands. They had looks of surprise on their faces. “What’s happening?” Theo asked.

“Oh, just going to have a little sing-song, babe.” Amelia said excitedly.

Five minutes later, they had formulated their plan. At ten minutes past seven, the chaos would begin.

* * *

Remus really thought this Order meeting could have waited for another day, truly. He had no idea why they were even meeting at this time anyway - he was a busy man, especially with term resuming in literally less than 48 hours. He had lessons to plan, work to mark. Plus, the OWL Defence Against the Dark Arts exam paper had been sent to him - in the highest confidentiality, of course, - for him to have a look over and verify. All in all, he had so much to do, with so little time to actually do it.

He was slipping his focus in and out of this meeting, in all honesty. He had contributed enough to previous meetings, surely this warranted some other people to speak? Remus had no clue what they were even talking about, that's how disinterested he was. He wanted to do nothing except drift off to sleep. Hell, if Mundungus was allowed to literally sleep at the table, then surely that could apply to him too?

He was all but jolted to life when a sudden screeching noise from upstairs started blaring, suspiciously sounding like it was coming from the room directly above.

“What the hell was that?” Sirius let slip.

Remus’s werewolf senses picked up that the kids were protesting, albeit very quietly amongst themselves. _Just what are they doing?_ He wondered. They had left the room before the meeting very meekly and unsuspiciously, and none of them looked like they were planning anything. He swore he heard Ron saying something along the lines of, “No, not like that George, you idiot, that’ll just ruin it!”. He also picked up Blaise Zabini speaking - “ _Scaramoosh? Let me do the -_ what are these lyrics?”

_What…_

Dumbledore carried on the meeting as normal, as if it was a mild inconvenience - as if it was as normal as birds chirping. Just as the old man had resumed whatever point he was previously making, though, this time a very loud and audible blare could be heard, and everybody in the kitchen could hear it.

“ _Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo figaro!-”_

“Eh?” Came from Fletcher.

“- _Magnifico-o-o-o_!!”

At the head of the table, Sirius seemed to shrivel up a bit, and all he did after that was place his head in his hands.

And then the kids voices could be heard, shouting the rest of whatever song this was.

“I’M JUST A POOR BOY, NOBODY LOVES ME!” Was all but shouted by the girls.

The boys then seemed to pick up a reprise. “HE’S JUST A POOR BOY, FROM A POOR FAMILY!”

All together, the kids shouted in various levels of screech: “SPARE HIM HIS LIFE FROM THIS MONSTROSITY!”

Snape, sitting opposite, looked like he wanted nothing more but to shrink into his chair and pass away,

Over the shouting, the various members of the Order were trying to figure out what on earth the kids were even shouting about. Clearly, this was a muggle song. Remus tried to think what song it was, but he didn’t know enough to know.

“Black,” Snape sneered at Sirius after a chorus of “ _We will not let you go!”_ was shouted. “You clearly have planned this. Do you not value this organisation? Is this some sort of joke to you?”

“I’ll have you know-”

_“LET ME GO-O-O-O-O!”_

_“-_ Severus, that I am just as mortified as everyone else-”

“- _Oh, Mamma mia, mamma mia! Mamma mia, let me go_!”

“-that-OI! SHUT UP YOU LOT! This has none of my support whatsoever-”

“-... _Has the devil put aside for me, for me, for meeeeeeee!”_

The singing stopped then, but they could hear the very audible sounds of the kids now jumping around instead, as the song reached an instrumental period. A deep corner of Remus’s soul perked up a bit, as he thought to himself, _This song actually sounds quite fun…_

The Order members were now sitting awkwardly, in silence, as the noise from above made it impossible to even argue amongst themselves. Molly Weasley shot a death glare at her son Bill, who muttered that the song was wicked cool. Tonks had long clamped a hand around her mouth to keep the others from seeing her smirk, though Remus noticed it.

“This is clearly a sign of protest,” Arthur Weasley broke the silence.

“Protest?!” Mrs Weasley near barked, “What do they have to protest exactly, Arthur?”

The Weasley patriarch cleared his throat. “W-Well… For long enough they’ve craved to be included at these meetings. Fred and George especially.”

He stopped at that, as his wife looked close to exploding.

“Will someone go and shut them up?!” Snape barked.

Since Sirius looked… close to tears, Remus stood up immediately. “I’ll go.”

“Be quick about it!” Molly said a bit harshly, though he knew her anger wasn’t aimed at him.

As soon as he was out of the kitchen and up the stairs, Remus felt safe to let out a bit of a chuckle. He wondered just who had formulated this great idea - the big question was, was it the Weasley twins or the Potter twins plus Dorea’s idea? He supposed he was about to find out.

* * *

  
  


Though the music was blaring so loud it could possibly damage their ears, the Weasley’s, plus Hermione and the Black Manor residents, were having great fun jumping around the room to the music playing loudly on the record player. Fred and George were causing the most ruckus, - if they weren’t singing they kept running around. Ron was currently piggybacking off Barnaby. Amelia and Theo were attempting some sort of crazy waltz, grinning lovingly at one another as they did so. It was saying something that even Blaise and Hermione were joining in at this point.

Harry really liked Queen and their music. He felt like quite the rebel just screaming and jumping about like a madman, knowing the adults downstairs could hear every word.

When the lyrics resumed, he found himself facing Ginny. Before he could even comprehend, she had grabbed his hand and spun him under her arm, completely randomly.

“ _So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye?”_ They all resumed singing (well, shouting).

“ _So you think you can love me and leave me to die?”_

“This is madness! Complete madness!” Ginny tried to say to him over the loud commotion, grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m amazed none of the adults have come barging in telling us to shut up!” He tried to say back before he joined the chorus of others in shouting: “ _Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here!”_

Another instrumental bit hit, and this time Harry felt a bit bolder. He spun Ginny around this time, which she wasn’t totally expecting. It took him a second to realise they had been holding each other's hand throughout their whole exchange. Just as their eyes connected, the door to the room swung open.

Moony was standing in the doorway, looking a little bit exasperated. They stopped what they were doing, though the music kept blaring. “Will you turn that down?” He tried to tell them over the sound.

George reluctantly did so. Harry imagined a huge sigh of relief was made amongst the Order members downstairs. “What’s the meaning of this, then?” Moony asked nobody in particular. “We’re trying to have a meeting downstairs, as you all know.”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about, Lupin,” Fred said in a faux-innocent voice. “We’re just having a blast up here. We’re that excited to get back to school, y’see.”

“Oh, can you lot hear our music? Terribly sorry about that.” Dorea added.

He swore Lupin smirked. “Yes, we can hear the music and your stomping about very clearly.”

“You can all come and join in if that’s what you’re wanting.” Ron added, causing Hermione to giggle.

Remus actually laughed then. “I know you are upset that you’re still not being allowed in on the meetings, but it is not my decision to make. Fred, George, you two only have to wait until your graduation before you’ll likely be allowed to join, so take comfort in that. Now, I have to get back to the meeting. Keep the noise down.”

* * *

The days after that steamrolled by, so much so that on the last full day before they went back to school (the Saturday), they were glad to finally have a day relaxing totally - well, it was at the urge of Sirius and Ophelia, who were concerned they’d done a bit too much studying. Harry was delighted in that regard - he could finally stow all his work away in his bag and rest his mind.

They had another quidditch game outside, as the weather was pleasant. Though there was a problem - they wanted to do it girls vs boys, but there was only Amelia and Dorea, whilst the boys had Harry, Blaise, Theo and Barnaby. But then Regulus came outside and surprised them all by wanting to play, and to make things fair he joined the girls. After much urging from Amelia, Theo joined the ‘girls’ team too.

The girls team won the match somehow. Harry and the others were amazed at how good Regulus Black was at quidditch. When they touched back down, there were amazed questions. “How on earth are you that good?” Barnaby asked in wonder.

“Surely you were on the Slytherin team at school?” Blaise added.

Regulus grinned. “I was. That was many moons ago, though, but it was brilliant to blow away those cobwebs.”

It was fair to say that Amelia and Dorea didn’t let the boys team live it down. Like when the boys won last time, they kept goading and rubbing it in their faces that they’d won right up until dinner, and even then were reminded to not make too much noise. 

After dinner, Harry offered to stay and help clean up with Theo’s mum. The others were either in the living room or up in their own bedrooms. The two of them worked efficiently together, and even though the only sound in the room was Ophelia humming away to herself, it was a comfortable silence.

Just as Harry closed the cutlery drawer, he decided to speak up. “Theo told me you’re starting work at St Mungo’s tomorrow?”

The pretty woman lit up. “Oh, yes! I have a trial shift, but I’m quite optimistic it will go okay. It’s on the children's ward, so I can’t wait for that. I’d almost lost hope that they’d forgotten about me… I can’t wait to finally earn my own money.”

Harry felt his heart lurch at that last statement - never feeling more glad that a delight of a woman such as Ophelia Fortesque had gotten out of her horrid relationship with Rohan Nott. The man had restricted every part of her life, even so much that he didn’t even allow her to get a job. “I really hope it goes well for you too, Ms Fortesque.” He replied earnestly.

“Oh please, Harry, call me Ophelia.” The woman replied. 

He nodded. Then a thought came to him. “Would it be alright if you tell me how it goes? I was just wondering because… well, me and my sisters take a Healing course at school, and I’ve been wondering what a typical day in the life of a St Mungo’s worker might look like. I’ve been thinking of my career lately, y’see.”

Ophelia nodded. “I will. Most definitely. It’s good that you’re thinking of your options now. I’ll send an owl to you by Wednesday.”

He thanked her in advance, and they both seemed to go back to their tasks. Just as Harry was about to wash his hands, Ophelia spoke to him again. “How has Theo been getting on at his studying? Tell me honestly.”

“I studied Transfiguration with him just a few days back. He’s good, though he says it's his worst subject. As far as I can tell, he’s been revising well.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. As a mother I can’t help but wonder if he actually revises or just spends his time with your lovely sister. He’s smitten with her, as we’ve all noticed.”

He smirked. “Smitten with each other. It feels like they’re never apart.”

Ophelia smiled broadly. “That’s all I want for him.”

They concluded their tasks then, and Ophelia left the room then. Harry stayed behind just a little bit longer - he went to the fridge to get himself a glass of juice. Just as he was about to go back up to his room with his cup, Sirius came in.

“Finally got my lesson plans done.” His godfather said, yawning and stretching a bit.

“Please don’t go too hard on us when we’re back in class, I think I’ve killed my brain enough.” Harry said, jokingly.

“First week back will be chilled, I promise.” Sirius answered, though there was a twinkle in his eye that Harry didn’t particularly trust. “Have you packed your trunk yet?”

“Almost done,” he replied truthfully - he only needed to clean his Firebolt and pack it, and he was ready.

“Make sure you double-check, just so there’s no mad scramble in the morning. Wouldn’t want to be at King’s Cross and then realise you’ve forgotten your textbooks or something.” Sirius said. Harry nodded, and went back up to his room to do just that.

Once he was triply sure that literally everything he needed for going back to Hogwarts was in his trunk, Harry could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Sitting down on his bed, he gladly leaned back and felt himself at ease - despite the fact that school would only be chaotic when they got back due to exams. Thinking about the exams… Harry knew he was as ready as he could be at this stage, yet even though there was still work to be done, he knew that with the push of himself and his friends, he would get through them all without any hiccups.

He was excited to see Ron and Hermione again - though it had only been a few days, he had missed them terribly and kept wondering at certain moments what they were doing. He knew Hermione would have had her nose in books every waking moment of Easter holidays, preparing for the OWLs as if they were happening the day they got back. 

Thinking of Ron and the other Weasley’s made his mind wander to Ginny. Again. She had barely left his mind ever since that Floo call from last week, where she had called _him_ , in a rush, wanting to know if he’d been okay after the news of Skeeter broke. She had stayed with him on the call after Fred and George had been called away too; it had been bliss just sitting and talking, though it didn’t last long. There was also that pioneering moment at Grimmauld Place, just days before, where they had had a little defining moment during that time where they blared Bohemian Rhapsody on Dorea’s record player. He would be seeing her again tomorrow, as early as half past ten - only a little over sixteen hours away… Harry couldn’t remember another time he had wanted the time to steam on so quickly. He felt a strange yearning to see Ginny again - though he couldn’t place his finger on just what the feeling was.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Theo from out in the hallway - “Blaise, have you seen my blue socks?”

He cursed slightly, being distracted from his thoughts about Ginny. He rubbed his temples and sat up a bit. _What has become of me?_ He wondered. _Why do I feel this way?_

“It’s because you have a crush on her.”

Starting, Harry whizzed round at once. It was Blaise, looking very coy in the doorway. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Zabini walked further into the room. “I was wondering how long it would take you to realise your feelings for her.”

“Wait,” his eyes widened, “am I… obvious? Like, really obvious?”

Blaise burst out laughing, which Harry glared at him for. “Honestly? I think this crush you have on Ginny has just come upon you at once, you know that? Like a tidal wave - it’s like one day you just looked at her and thought, ‘ _oh my god, wow, she’s so amazing’._ I’ve noticed it, Theo’s noticed it, your sisters have noticed it, Barnaby will probably have noticed it too.”

“Oh gosh,” Harry put his head in his hands, not pleased with that predicament. “I’ve probably been really creepy about it.”

“Not that I’ve noticed.” Blaise pouted. “If it makes you feel any better, I think she likes you too.”

Harry hadn’t noticed before how much he liked hearing that sentence. “Really?”

“Yeah boy. During that pinnacle at Sirius’s old house - I think everybody was glancing at you two spinning each other round and holding hands.”

“But that was in the moment,” Harry protested a bit, “it was just having fun, during that part of the song.”

“Oh, Harry,” Blaise patted him on the shoulder, “this crush really is going to hit you like a tsunami. Just admit you like her.”

With that, Blaise quickly got up and left before he could even comprehend. “W-wait, Blaise!” He quickly jogged into the corridor. “How do you propose I go about that? Hey, Blaise!”

Blaise Zabini was quickly back in his own room, but the last thing he said before giddily shutting the door to his bedroom was, “Oh, mate, you’re going to have to work that one out yourself!”

Feeling a bit glum, Harry walked back into his bedroom and all but slumped down onto his bed again. He thought long and hard about Blaise’s words to him. How on earth was he going to go about this? He was hopeless with these sorts of things, utterly a liability. 

He knew Blaise was right, though. He did like Ginny. How he was going to go about a) finding out if she actually liked him back, and b) admit his feelings to her, was another story though.


	36. End of Easter Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at Hogwarts finally, woohoo!
> 
> Also, sorry this is a bit delayed in arriving - Google Docs went down the other night, just as I wanted to get some writing done. But hey ho, it's here now.

The next morning, Amelia woke up just before seven. She had no clue why her body had woken her up this early, but she supposed it was something to do with the fact that today was the day they would be back at Hogwarts. 

Getting up, she stretched out before moving across her room to her chair, where both her muggle clothes and her robes were neatly laid out. Theo’s mum had ironed all of their clothes out the previous evening, which despite the fact it took her the better part of half an hour, the woman did it without complaint and even shook off their protests when they said they could have easily done it themselves. Amelia got organised and dressed quickly, and did one last skim-through of her trunk to make sure everything was packed and hadn’t moved. Once this was confirmed, she decided to go down and get breakfast in her.

Walking past Dorea’s room, she paused momentarily to see if her godsister was awake or not. It was confirmed that Dorea wasn’t awake, as even through the door Amelia could hear short exhaling noises which could only indicate that she was still sleeping.

When she got to the staircase, Amelia stopped again. This time, she had a playful thought. Instead of going down, she went up one level. Walking quietly on to the level, she walked down the long corridor until she got to Theo’s room. Then, placing her ear flush against the door, she tried to listen out for any signs that her boyfriend was awake. She clamped a hand over her mouth and held back a giggle when she heard what could only be a snore escape Theo’s mouth. Very quietly, her hand reached for the doorknob and twisted it slowly, praying it didn’t make a loud noise. Thankfully, it didn’t, although when she actually opened the door it made a slightly audible brushing sound against the carpet of Theo’s room. When she actually poked her head around the door, though, the room was quite dark, but the early morning sun made it so that she wasn’t squinting to see. She set her gaze on the double bed in the room, which was containing none other than Theo.

Amelia almost felt bad with what she was about to do, as Theo looked so cute and peaceful. He was laying on his side, facing the window rather than the door, and his arms were hugging the duvet as if he was cuddling it. It dawned on Amelia then that he had probably been thinking about her before he fell asleep, and had imagined holding her close and cuddling into her, which made her heart leap and flutter at his cuteness. His side profile looked glorious and his hair, which the top of was normally curly, looked even more tousled by sleep. Amelia felt giddy as she observed him.  _ I really can’t believe he’s all mine. _

Pulling herself out of her admiration of a sleeping Theo, she smirked as she prepared herself for action. Walking slowly towards the bed, she tested the floorboards before applying all her weight on them in case they creaked. When none of them did, she jumped on to his bed.

Theo started awake, and nearly jolted upwards. They genuinely would have clashed heads if his eyes didn’t dart open and realise it was only her. “Oh, it’s jus’ you.” Theo said, in a deliciously sleepy sounding voice.

“Just me.” She grinned cheekily, “thought I’d wake you up. Wouldn’t want you sleeping in and running us all late.”

“Didn’t expect to be woken up quite like this.” He remarked, rubbing his eyes. She giggled, though kept it quiet.

“You were cuddling the duvet when I came in,” she said, tilting her head down at him with a huge smile, “thinking of me?”

His eyes lit up. “Yeah, actually. I dreamed of you.”

“Oh really?” Amelia responded, that only boosting her ego more. 

“Mmmhm,” Theo murmured, reaching up slightly to run a hand down her face. Her heart was fluttering like mad. “It was a sweet dream. Now why don’t you come down to my level and give me a kiss?”

Her smile burst wider. “But we both have morning breath!”

“Am I the type to judge, baby?” He eyed her, smiling coyly. She rolled her eyes playfully and eventually leaned down towards his face and captured her lips with his. Amelia really loved kissing Theo - though he was the only person she had kissed, she would never want to do it with anybody else. He was just so magical and perfect at it. She loved him a whole lot.

When they eventually had to pull away, they opened their eyes at the same time and just quietly laughed. After all, Amelia was taking risks just being in his bedroom - anyone could walk in and see them, and assume that she’d been there all night when that wasn’t the case. It was rebellious and risked trouble, which was probably why they found it so funny.

“I suppose I should get up.” Theo said after thirty seconds. “Do you want to go down and I’ll catch up with you, once I’m dressed?”

She nodded. His eyes wandered around the bedroom as he began to sit up. “I’m gonna miss this bed. It’s so comfy.”

“What, and your one in the Slytherin dorm isn’t?” She quipped.

“No, it’s comfy as well, but this one just feels more homely. Plus, I get my own privacy and space. I can’t really be arsed with the fact that me and Blaise have to face Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle when we get back.”

She understood. “I can imagine, since they’re not really pleasant with you two anymore. Just keep your eye out for them and don’t pay them any mind.”

Theo got out of the bed then, and wandered over to his study table, where on the seat his clothes were neatly laid out. “I have a feeling that the older Slytherin’s are going to be planning more things when we get back.”

That shocked her a bit. “Really? Like what?  _ Attacks?” _

“Well, you know how we are - cunning and sly. Ever since Bletchley and Harper had Zacharias Smith under the Imperius, I can’t help but think that more things like that are going to be done to others. What if they were liaising with other people before they were caught and arrested? What if they target  _ me?” _

Amelia couldn’t bear the thought of her Theodore being roped in to Death Eater malarkey against his knowledge or will. All it took was for Crabbe or Goyle to cast the Imperius Curse though…  _ No,  _ her mind screamed,  _ stop thinking that.  _ “I need to have a talk with Harry regarding how all the DA members can stay safe. Some of the Houses carried out checks on people to make sure they hadn’t been Imperiused after Smith had - I think it’ll have to be upped to a more routine check.”

Theo agreed. “Yes, I agree, and I’m sure the others will too.”

Just as she was about to leave him to get dressed, Theo called her name again. “Amelia.”

She faced him, looking expectant. “Yes?”

“I-I just thought I’d let you know,” he cleared his throat, “that no matter what, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe. From anything, from anyone. You know that, right?”

Her heart burst with love. She smiled softly. “Yes, Theo, I know. I would never doubt you in that regard.”

He smiled back, though he looked a bit shaky. “Good. Because if anything.. Were to happen at school - another attack, a-and you were hurt.. I would never forgive myself.”

Amelia couldn’t help but tear up a bit at his cuteness. “Bit sentimental for a Sunday morning, Theo.”

“It’s my pledge to you - as your boyfriend, your best friend, loverman, whatever you’ll have from me. I love you, ‘melia, truly.”

After a few moments of just staring at him in awe, she moved forward. “Oh come here, you big bear.”

They met in the middle and swamped one another in a hug. His arms wrapped around her body snugly, and his head was buried in her shoulder as he breathed in her scent. Their heartbeats were in perfect sync.

After a minute or so, Amelia pulled away and gave him a quick peck. “Right, I really have to get down and eat. I’m starving. I’ll see you down there?”

He nodded, smiling, though his eyes looked glassy. She gave him one last appreciative smile before slowly opening the door and double checking there was nobody out in the corridor before heading downstairs at last.

* * *

Despite the fact that everyone had their things packed, Sunday morning from seven thirty am onwards still felt like such a rush. Harry walked down to breakfast to see Barnaby Lee practically wolfing his cereal down. “What’s the rush for? We’ve practically got three hours to kill before we have to Floo to the station.” he asked him, amused.

“I just can’t let go of the feeling that I’ve forgotten to pack something, or misplaced it. It’s driving me nuts.” The fourth year Slytherin replied.

He just chuckled. “That happens to me too, but it's most likely just your paranoia. Make a list or something to make sure you have got absolutely everything.”

Regulus Black sauntered into the room then. “I don’t miss the morning before the return to school, let me tell you. Always a mad rush about something.”

“That reminds me! I should go say bye to Buckbeak before we leave. Harry, don’t let me forget.” Barnaby exclaimed, near leaping out of his chair and gesturing to him.

He laughed then. “Why can’t you just go now, to get it out of the way?”

Barnaby Lee calmed down a bit then. “Oh, yeah, I guess I can.”

He shook his head playfully and shared a knowing look with Regulus. “I’ll come with you, else I’ll feel bad for the big chicken.”

Less than five minutes later, Harry and Barnaby were skipping down the front of the lawn to the bottom of the huge front garden, where Regulus had made a little field shelter/stable of sorts for Buckbeak. The hippogriff must’ve heard them coming, as his head appeared over the top of the stable door and he made a soft squawking noise.

They bowed to the animal just to be sure before approaching him. Barnaby gave him a soft pat on the beak whilst Harry rubbed behind his ears, which the beast seemed to appreciate as his head immediately went sideways and his eyes started closing slowly. 

“Do you think we should give him a quick groom, to save Regulus doing it later?” Barnaby asked.

“Yeah, I’m up for that.” Harry gladly replied. Barnaby nodded, and went into the little shed attachment next to the stable, where some equipment was kept. He emerged with a few body brushes and handed him one, and they quickly got to work, each taking one side of the hippogriff and starting to clean him.

“I haven’t had the chance to ask,” Harry spoke up after a few minutes of them just working comfortably in silence, “how are you enjoying your stay here?”

“It’s truly been a safe haven for me. I know that Blaise feels the same. At the start, I did feel a bit bad - coming here without even telling my parents I was leaving, but now I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet in doing so.” Barnaby replied, occasionally looking at him from the other side of Buckbeak.

Harry nodded. “They’ll never find you here. And you’ll always be at ease.”

Barnaby agreed. After a further ten minutes of chatting and grooming Buckbeak, the two of them finished up. They gave the beast a few last treats and pats before heading back up the garden steps and into Black Manor. When they got back inside, mostly everyone except Blaise was down at the table eating. Upon further inspection, Blaise was actually in the pantry, getting some fancy granola. 

“How are you feeling about your first shift at St Mungo’s, mum?” Theo was posing a question to Ophelia when Harry and Barnaby sat back down.

“Nervous but excited, darling. I’ll let you all know how it goes in due course.” The woman replied, smiling optimistically.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay there?” Regulus asked, with something that sounded like genuine concern, “Word could spread that you’re working there, and your ex-husband could turn up one day.. Or your mother in-law.”

Ophelia flinched a bit at the mention of Rohan Nott, yet her confidence and demeanor didn't waver. “Well, I did think of a way to avoid that.” The woman turned to Sirius, who was as always at the head of the table. “I was thinking that either Ditsy or Dippey could Apparate me directly to the Hospital every day, and Apparate me back here when my shift ends. That way, I’m staying within the Hospital the whole time, and therefore meaning I’m less likely to run into anyone on the street outside.”

Sirius was nodding vehemently. “That sounds like a good idea. The elves are devoted to you anyway, so I’m sure they’ll consent to this as well.”

Ophelia smiled gratefully. The conversation after that was focused more on going back to Hogwarts, and the hectic term that was surely awaiting them just hours away now. “Exams feel so far away yet so close now.” Blaise remarked.

They all hummed agreement. “Our Healing tests are only a few weeks away.” Dorea added, looking at Amelia and Harry. 

Harry definitely felt a bit of dread then - even though they were nearly done the Healing course in terms of content, there were still lots of terminology and spells to actually practise. Though it would be good to get it out of the way before the important OWLs, he just wished they had a week longer. 

At half past eight, Sirius sent them all up to their bedrooms to make sure they definitely had everything. Since Harry had made triply sure the past few days that everything he needed was packed, he elected to just take the essays that were assigned as holiday homework out and skim over them, just to make sure they were correct. He gave more attention to his Potions and Arithmancy ones. When he deduced that nothing more could be added to them, he filed them away back in his bag, satisfied.

  
  


At ten minutes past ten o’clock that morning, Dorea finally lugged her trunk down the huge staircase of Black Manor, with her bag on her back and everything she needed packed. When she stepped off the final stair and onto the ground floor, she breathed a thankful sigh, and rested her arms.

Regulus appeared out of one of the study’s. “You know, I could have levitated it down for you.” He remarked, smirking at her tiredness.

“‘S fine, uncle, I managed it.”

“Just.” He quipped again. He moved down the hall and into the kitchen. Resting her bag down carefully on the soft carpeted floor, when she looked back up her dad was striding down the hall towards her. He lit up when he set his eyes on her and walked towards her faster.

“All ready to go, dear?” He asked her, as he began climbing the stairs. Just before he said that, he kissed the top of her head.

“Yes, I have everything, dad.” She replied, smiling broadly.

“I’m just going to get the others to take their luggage down and then we’ll begin the process of Apparating to the station.” Sirius replied, as he walked a few more steps up. “We’ll be meeting Moony and the Weasley’s there.”

She nodded. She watched as her father ascended the staircase and disappeared on to the first level, where he was probably going to get Amelia. After a few minutes, she heard Amelia noisily start her descent of the staircase.

When she came into view, she chuckled at the sight of her godsister - for Amelia had her bag in one hand, dangling a bit low, and her other hand lugging her trunk along. “Do you want me to help?” Dorea called up at her, already walking up the stairs.

“No, I’m fine.” Amelia called back, although she didn’t look it. She even grimaced a bit when the trunk thumped down onto the next stair a bit too aggressively.

Next to come down was Barnaby and Harry - the latter taking the initiative to cast  _ Locomotor  _ and levitate both trunks (and Hedwig’s cage) instead of physically pulling them. Blaise and Theo were the last to come down, mainly because Theo had almost forgotten his own wand and had to rush back into his bedside table to get it. 

“Right, now that that's over and done with, lets go and say our farewells to Regulus, Ophelia and the elves.” Sirius said when he came back down. They left their luggage where it was and followed Sirius into the kitchen.

Dorea hugged her uncle goodbye. “I’ll miss you, uncle Reg,” she said into his shoulders.

“I’ll miss you too, sweetheart.” He said affectionately, “I’ll write to you. Good luck for your exams as well, before I forget!” 

She smiled. “Thank you. Any tips for revision?”

“I’ll owl them to you nearer the time. Hopefully they aren’t too hellish; just don’t lose your head completely.” He said.

She gave him one last hug. “Thanks for that, it’ll help a lot. Don’t get too lonely here by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, Dorea, really. Oh, and before you go,” he pulled her a bit closer, “if your dad gives Fred a hard time, you write to me immediately. I just know that Sirius will likely intimidate him and try to scare him off.”

She laughed. “Okay, I will.”

She moved on to Ophelia, who had just finished a long hug with her son. The woman grinned widely at her. “Oh, Dorea, sweetie, come here!”

She hugged the woman who was something like an aunt to her. The woman even spun her around a bit. “I’ll miss you all so much. Take care, and good luck when the OWLs come around!”

She smiled. “Thank you, Ophelia. I’ll try and keep Theo on a path of revision for you.”

Ophelia Fortesque let out a loud laugh. “Amelia and the boys have said the same. I’m sure you all will be kept busy. Remember not to bombard yourself too much with work and to take care of your mind.”

She nodded, mentally noting that down for later. “I hope your trial shift at St Mungo’s goes well today, too.”

“I hope so too, darling. I’ve said I’ll write to Harry how it goes, and he’ll likely tell you all.” Ophelia rubbed her hands together. 

Within the next five minutes, the farewells were concluded - to both humans and house elves alike. They really had to get going then, as time was trickling closer to half past ten. Even though the train didn’t even open its doors until ten fifty, Sirius wanted to get there with plenty of time. At half past, Sirius Apparated the boys to the station first, and within seconds he was back at the Manor and came back for the girls. They waved at Regulus and Ophelia one last time before Dorea felt the familiar sensation of being pulled into an Apparition. Just like that, they were on the platform.

* * *

Harry smirked knowingly when he adjusted his glasses, for Blaise, Barnaby and Theo looked like they were about to throw up. “I forgot how much I hate doing that.” Barnaby muttered as he straightened up. Funnily enough, Hedwig didn’t look that bothered - she was just perched in her cage and taking in her surroundings.

Within seconds, the girls and Sirius suddenly appeared near them with their luggage. They walked over to a pillar which was only a few feet away from one of the doors to the train so they would have easy boarding. Sirius kept checking his watch expectantly and looking near the pillar where you entered Platform 9 and ¾. 

At ten forty-five, they sighted the familiar tall and lanky figures of Remus and George coming through the barrier first. Fred and Ron weren’t far behind them, and they were followed by Mr Weasley, Hermione, Ginny, and bringing up the rear was Tonks and Mad-Eye. The Weasley’s and Hermione came jogging over. “Nice and early getting here this time, unlike at Christmas.” Ron said as they reunited, despite seeing them two days ago.

“Yeah, I didn’t get barreled down the stairs and knocked unconscious by trunks this time.” Ginny quipped, and they smirked at that.

“You won’t believe who we seen, though,” George said.

“Who? Theo asked.

“Percy.”

“What?” They were surprised. Harry wondered just how they ran into him.

“Well, we were walking to the Tube station, which is down a street of these big old-looking buildings, and he literally emerged from one of them. He didn’t even see us - just pulled his jacket on and quickly walked away down the path.” Fred explained.

“Gosh, he really isn’t for talking.” Harry said, letting out a low whistle.

“Yeah, and it was impossible that he couldn’t have not seen us - the twins were mucking about and Tonks was calling a question out to Remus.” Ron added.

They were momentarily distracted when Hermione noted quietly to them that Pansy Parkinson had just come through the barrier with who they all assumed were her parents. Millicent Bulstrode and her family followed not long after, and the two families looked in deep discussion. “Probably talking about Death Eater malarkey.” Barnaby remarked in a tone that implied distaste.

“Their families are Death Eater’s?” Harry almost gasped. He knew from five years of being in the same year as them at school that Pansy and Millicent were misogynistic bullies and their families were pure-blood, but he’d never heard them ever agree with Voldemort’s views. Then again, he didn’t pay them any mind.

“Well, Millicent’s uncle Arsenius is. He’s a prominent Death Eater, yet he’s really low key about it - he’s never been arrested. He’s friends with my dad. He’s a disgusting man - he apparently keeps muggle women as… pleasure slaves.” Barnaby said. Theo and Blaise nodded at that part, as if to prove it was a legitimate claim.

“Pansy’s family are a bit of a mystery. I honestly don’t know if they are Death Eater’s or if they just agree with You-Know-Who’s views.” Blaise said quietly, even though the platform was filling up and getting noisier by the minute. The conversation was quickly averted from that topic, as nobody liked to talk more about Arsenius Bulstrode. At ten-fifty, the conductor opened the doors to the train, and loudly called out, “All aboard!”

The Black Manor residents and the Weasley’s said quick farewells to Mr Weasley, Mad-Eye and Tonks before quickly boarding the train. Mad-Eye and Mr Weasley told them all good luck for their OWLs, and Tonks hugged them good-naturedly and said the same. Luckily, they were among the first actually on board, so they could take their pick of any compartment. Sirius and Remus dealt with their luggage and pets and urged them to go grab one for themselves.

Fred gave Dorea a quick peck, as he and George were going to grab a compartment for them and Lee Jordan. Harry grabbed the first empty compartment he saw, and the others followed him in. There was just enough room for them all. After a few minutes, other students walked past their compartment, assumedly trying to find an empty one or trying to locate their friends.

Just after Remus stuck his head in to say that his and Sirius’s compartment was only two down if they needed anything, they all grimaced - for Draco Malfoy walked past. Crabbe and Goyle were hot on his heels. Thankfully, they didn’t notice them and carried on walking. Although Amelia managed to see Lucius Malfoy standing out on the platform.

At eleven, the train rumbled to life and prepared for its departure. It gave a few short hoots before it slowly started crawling out of the platform. They took the opportunity to wave goodbye to Mad-Eye, Mr Weasley and Tonks one last time. Within a minute, they were out of the station and on their way to start their last term as fifth years at Hogwarts.

The train ride in itself was very chilled out - they mostly just sat and talked, and Ron got out his Exploding Snap set which they all had a good game or two with. The trolley lady also made her way up the carriages, and Harry gladly bought for them all. 

Just after Harry had beaten Theo at a second game of Exploding Snap, did Draco Malfoy unfortunately spot them. They knew it would be inevitable - since he was a Prefect, and all the Prefect’s had to do rounds of the train every half hour or so (Ron and Hermione had just finished there's some twenty minutes previously). He poked his stupid head around the compartment door with a filthy look on his face. “Blaise? Theo?  _ Barnaby?  _ What are you three doing with Potty and his crew?”

The three Slytherin’s looked rather uncomfortable. Amelia answered for them. “They’re our  _ friends _ , Malfoy. You should try getting some of your own.”

Ron and Ginny nearly choked at that. Malfoy turned an ugly shade of red. “I wasn’t asking  _ you.” _

“Why are you here then?” Dorea said, sighing irritably. “Don’t you have first years to be bullying? Or pathetic gossip to tell Crabbe and Goyle?”

Malfoy snapped then, and started spouting rubbish. Harry fingered his temples, and shared a similar look with everyone else who were equally tired of Draco’s shit. Out of nowhere, both Blaise and Ginny whipped their wands out. Ginny sent out a Bat-Bogey Hex, whilst Blaise cast a Knockback Jinx - however, Ginny was quicker. The compartment door slid back shut when Draco was knocked back and hexed. Almost as quickly as he’d appeared, he went running off back down the train, both swearing and screeching.

“Gosh, he’s so annoying, I can’t believe I used to hang around him.” Blaise muttered as he put his wand away. Barnaby looked amazed and in awe of both his best friend and Ginny. 

The train ride ended a bit quicker than anyone could have anticipated, yet everyone felt glad to be back - in the way that they were going to be seeing everyone else again. When the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, they let out content noises.

* * *

When they eventually arrived in the Entrance Hall, there was a slow throng of hundreds of students trying to mill into the Great Hall to take their seats for the welcome back feast. It was always at a snail pace due to everyone talking whilst they walked very slowly to their seats. Harry found himself beside Terry Boot. “Hello, Terry.”

“Hello Harry!” The fifth year Ravenclaw chirped happily. “How was your Easter holiday?”

“I spent them mostly revising,” he said, laughing a bit, “as I’m sure all of us did.”

“Oh yes, I was doing the same. I think I almost killed my brain. Do you have an idea when the DA is starting back up again?”

Harry had a thought. “Junior group is resuming tomorrow night, as Monday’s are always their days. Senior group will probably still run on Saturday’s.”

“Great! I can’t wait to get back into it.” Terry said happily. Then his face lit up. “Oh, and did you hear? Anthony finally grew balls and asked Daphne out, and she said yes!”

Harry grinned. “Yup, I heard about that. I’m so happy for them.” 

“So am I! It seems a lot of people are starting to form romantic relationships. I wonder who will be next?”

_ Me and Ginny?  _ Harry thought, his heart fluttering. Thankfully, before Terry could ask him anything about who he had his eyes on, the throng moved forward, and Terry had arrived at Ravenclaw table. The boy took his seat across from Michael Corner and Stephen Cornfoot, where he waved goodbye.

Harry sat down near his twin and godsister, with the Weasley’s and Hermione following suit. The Hall was pretty noisy now. Sirius and Remus were up at the staff table, seemingly in deep conversation with Hagrid. A gap opened up between the throng, and through it Harry could see that over at Slytherin table, Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle, were looking vengeful. Harry wondered how long it took for the two goons to remove the Bat-Bogey Hex from Malfoy.

After five minutes, mostly everyone was seated. Dumbledore made a short welcome back speech - which mostly covered the fact that exam season was very much upon them, and reminded the Senior’s in particular about them (not than anybody from fifth year upwards needed reminding). He also reminded the Healing lot about their theory and practical tests coming up just two weeks before the OWLs. After that, it was dinner time, which everyone was thankful for. Mostly everyone was soon tucking in to a simply delicious roast chicken and vegetables with the nicest gravy ever. 

Once dessert (gooey melting-middle chocolate puddings) was over and done with, Dumbledore dismissed everybody to their common rooms, ready for lessons resuming tomorrow morning. Bellies full, everybody was soon congregating either towards the Grand Staircase or the stairs down to the dungeons.

When Harry and the others stepped foot into the common room for the first time in 2 weeks, the warmth that hit them was pleasant. He had missed the cosy and homelyness the vibrant room offered, most especially the fireplace that heated the place. Just as he and the others sat down in the comfy red armchairs did Angelina approach him.

“Evening guys,” their Captain said, in particular to Harry, Ron, Amelia and Dorea, “just thought I’d double check - are you all alright to up our practises to three times a week this term?”

Harry almost made an exasperated noise - three evenings a week?! Even practising twice a week was time-consuming enough - now they would be spending almost half of their weekdays being worn out and tired.

“Erm, well…” He started.

“I know it sounds an awful lot, but this is the Inter-House Quidditch Cup we’re talking about here. We  _ need  _ to win to get back up to the same reputation people like Wood and Charlie Weasley built for the team. And because I hate Montague’s guts.” Angelina explained. 

“Well, yes, that’s completely understandable, but the OWLs and NEWTs are fast approaching, as I’m sure you know.” Harry added. 

Angelina cocked a brow. “Yes, and?”

He was surprised. “Oh, well… We all have study groups and our own personal revision to do, won’t Quidditch clash with it?”

Angelina sighed. “Alright then, how about we do practice three nights a week, but straight after dinner? That way, we’ll have the rest of the evening to dedicate to study. That okay?”

They nodded, though it would still mean they would be exhausted and likely to not get as much revision done. With that, their Captain smiled before making her way over to Alicia and Katie. 

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and reuniting with their friends. When Harry went up to the boys dormitory to put his bag up there ready for classes tomorrow, he opened the door and got a shock.

For Seamus and Dean were… well, it appeared they  _ had  _ been kissing when Harry had pushed the door open.

“Oh..” He said, looking between them. The two boys were still embracing one another even though they had pulled back.

“Oh, erm, evening Harry.” Seamus chirped, in a voice that was higher than normal. Dean looked a bit embarrassed. 

“Are you two....” He knew the answer, he just wanted confirmation. 

“..We started dating at the start of the holidays, mate.” Dean confirmed. Harry tried so hard not to smile - he was really happy that they finally acknowledged the fact they were perfect for each other. He’d always wondered if there was anything more between the two of them. 

Seamus cleared his throat. “Erm, I know you must think that we’re disgusting, but-”

“-Why would I think that?” Harry cut in, alarmed. 

“W-well, you know, attitudes towards.. Gay people, are pretty hostile.”

“Oh, I know that,” Harry said, moving a bit more into the dorm and letting the door shut behind him, “it’s illegal in a lot of places.”

“Wait, you’re not upset in the slightest?” Dean looked amazed.

“I don’t know why you’d think I’d be upset, guys. I think the DA shows I’m pretty accepting of anybody. Besides, it’s your relationship, not mine. I’ll be supporting you two no matter what. You’re my friends.”

The two boys truly looked thankful, and even rushed forward to hug him and thank him endlessly.  _ Wow, this truly means a lot to them,  _ he thought, as a wave of love overcame him. He truly swore to himself to always keep an eye out for Dean and Seamus, in case they ever got hated on for loving each other.

“That reminds me, is this public knowledge?” He asked.

Seamus and Dean looked to one another. “Not at the moment. We intend to keep it private for now, and only tell trusted people.”

He nodded, understanding. Dean spoke up. “Your twin sister has known for a few months, though.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, she was totally cool with it. I’m sure Dorea would be too. We’ll tell more people when we’re ready.” Dean said.

Harry nodded, and carried his original task out - leaving his bag by his bed. Once he did that, he moved towards the door. Just before he went back down to the common room, he looked back at his two roommates and close friends. “If anyone at all gives you any trouble for being gay, you come to me. Alright?” He offered.

The two of them nodded, and looked both touched and appreciated. He smiled back at them, glad to be of help in that way, and left the dormitory. As he descended back down the stairs, he swore to himself to always be there for his friends. Especially given the fact that Dean and Seamus could face some hostility for choosing to love each other.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell yeah, we got AmeliaxTheo, Deamus, and AnthonyxDaphne all in one chapter.


	37. Classes Resume

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year!! This chapter is a bit later than planned but it's here now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will feature characters from the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game, who I've aged down significantly to be apart of Harry's timeline. I have faceclaimed them below. Enjoy!  
> Faceclaim for Ben Copper: Cory Gruter Andrew (aka Cole from Anne With An E)  
> Faceclaim for Merula Snyde: Rowan Blanchard (provisionally - when I find a better faceclaim I'll put it here)  
> Faceclaim for Ismelda Murk: Isabella Fuhrman

The next morning, Dorea woke up at half past seven, feeling somewhat optimistic. Even though classes were resuming today, she couldn’t wait to reunite with the rest of her DA friends properly - since last night they had to keep to their house tables at dinner. Getting up, she quietly drew her curtains back. To her surprise, Lavender was already up and about.

“Oh, morning Dorea.” Lavender said as she yawned.

“Morning Lav,” Dorea said, keeping her voice down in case she woke Parvati, Amelia or Hermione up. “I forgot to ask last night, how was your break?”

“Oh, boring, but a bit good. Though the same can’t be said for others.”

Assuming that Lavender was meaning the rest of the senior pupils and the fact that their Easter holidays were spent revising, she chuckled a bit. But then she noticed that Lavender looked a bit ghastly. “Wait, what do you mean by that?” She whispered, curious. 

“Well, did you hear about the Death Eater attack on that village near the Scottish Border?” Lavender asked.

Dorea nodded. “Yes. My dad helped the Auror’s investigate in its aftermath. I don’t think he mentioned any deaths though?”

Lavender moved closer to her, as if she was telling her something secret in a crowded location. “Nobody died, that is true, but there are people that live there that are now scarred for life because of what they saw happen. Houses burned, and people suffered serious burns, but that's not the half of it. Oh, Dorea, I’m not sure if I should say…”

“If you don’t want to say, then it’s okay. I’ll find out another way.” She reassured her.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll tell you. Children there were taken as hostages by the Death Eater’s, and some of the women…. Oh gosh, the poor women… There were some Death Eater’s that killed the husband’s of these women, right in front of them, and then would… oh gosh, they would hike the women off and do terrible things to them. Then to break them even further they would take their kids.”

Dorea felt herself go cold. That sounded absolutely despicable - made even worse by the fact that her own blood relative, Bellatrix Lestrange, was likely there, letting it all happen. She almost couldn’t fathom how a woman could stand by and let other women be tortured and not do anything about it. It was tough being a Black - so many of the family had gone rogue and dark. 

“Gosh…” She eventually said. Something came to her then. “I hope there were no Hogwarts students that had to witness that.”

Lavender raised her head slightly. “Oh, there were. A third year Gryffindor called Ben Copper… I think he’s friends with the Creevey’s. He’s… well, he was quite a shy boy anyway, but since the attack he’s become even more anxious and jumpy.”

Dorea did recognise the name, and probably had been in the common room with him many times. “Is he still attending school or has he been taken out to recover?”

“He’s still here. Dennis warned some people to not be alarmed if they hear screaming coming from his dorm one night; poor Ben has been plagued with nightmares since the ordeal.”

“That’s understandable.” Dorea replied, feeling crap for the poor lad. “He needs support right about now. I’ll speak to Amelia and Harry about him.”

Lavender nodded. They resumed getting ready then, for Hermione and Parvati both got up and started moving about the dorm. Amelia got up not long after. Soon enough the fifth year girls dorm was a content hubbub as they all readied themselves for classes resuming.

The five of them walked down together to the Great Hall, which was only partly filled when they walked in. Parvati and Lavender left them then, to go and sit with Tracey Davis and Mandy Brocklehurst. Hermione, Dorea and Amelia collectively decided to just sit at Gryffindor table and see who joined them. 

Just as Dorea grabbed a piece of toast for herself and passed Hermione the teapot, did Dorea look up and notice that Adrian Pucey was making his way towards them. The boy was eying up Amelia in particular as he was walking. Dorea nudged her godsister, who was sat directly across from her and had her back to Pucey. Amelia looked at her sharply but then dropped the expression when she noticed Adrian standing beside her.

“Morning ladies,” the sixth year said in something akin to a smooth voice, “is Harry around?”

“It shouldn’t be too long before he comes down,” Amelia replied, “we can pass your message on to him if you want?”

“Oh, it was just something regarding the DA - wanted to tell him about my progress.” Pucey shrugged it off. “Ah, look, here he is now.”

* * *

Before Harry had barely walked in and sat down at Gryffindor table did he realise that Adrian Pucey was trying to get his attention. “Oh, Adrien, it’s you.” He said pleasantly as he neared them. The Slytherin boy seemed to be all but hovering beside Amelia and had a smile like the Cheshire cat - which was odd, as it was barely eight in the morning.

“It is,” the sixth year Slytherin remarked, “I just wanted to update you about the progress I’ve made in regards to catching up with the rest of the DA.”

He smiled good naturedly. “Have you managed to get your Patronus?”

“Well, not quite, as I couldn’t physically practise it at home for obvious reasons. But I think my memory for it is really good and will work.”

“Great!” He replied. “I look forward to seeing your efforts on Saturday.”

With that, Pucey left them and wandered back over to the Slytherin table. Just as well - Montague and Warrington walked in barely a minute later. He noticed that Dorea and Hermione seemed to be sharing a certain look with one another - one which his twin was oblivious to, as she kept on eating. He could not read the look either. Harry just shrugged it off and sat down, selecting his breakfast.

More and more DA members started filtering down to the Great Hall - mostly the Seniors. Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley came down, nodding at them in friendly welcome. Megan Jones and Hannah Abbott weren’t far behind them; though there was a faraway look in Hannah’s eyes that had Harry curious. Within half an hour, the Hall was packed.

Half an hour before classes were due to start, Harry noticed that the Head of House’s started to make their way down their tables. They soon found out why, as she was standing behind Dorea and Hermione. “There’s been a slight change to the timetable this term. Arithmancy and History of Magic will be switching places, is all. So for you girls, that will mean that Arithmancy will now be held during the double period on Monday, and third period on Friday, with History of Magic now being held sixth period on Wednesday and first on Friday.” McGonagall explained, and tapped her wand on their timetables, which updated accordingly. Then the Professor looked at him. “Mr Potter, Professor Vector is pleased to say that you two can continue your private tuition, with no changes to the time or day that you usually meet.”

He nodded. “Thank you, Professor.”

She nodded, and walked further up the table. As more and more people started entering the Hall, Harry noticed that there was an increasing amount of people looking either towards him or in his direction. He cursed internally then, for he remembered that Rita Skeeter was back in business. _Do they hate me again?_ He wondered. He somehow managed to catch eyes with Hope Geddes, who was a fourth year Ravenclaw and member of the Junior DA. She was a pretty opinionated person - and though he wasn’t surprised when she flashed him something of a dirty look, he didn’t truly expect it from someone like her.

Thankfully, he couldn’t dwell on the possibilities of that thought for much longer, as the bell rang to signal there was ten minutes to go until the first period of the new term. Most of the Hall started congregating towards the entrance and moving very slowly towards the staircases.

At morning interval, Harry met up with Ron, Dorea, Amelia and Hermione in the courtyard. Ron had nothing good to say regarding Divination, though the girls looked a bit pleased with how Arithmancy had gone. “She had us all do a quiz,” Hermione summarised, “I did alright, though it was more about terms rather than actually figuring stuff out.”

After break was Potions. Within barely a minute, Snape was demanding everybody’s essays that he’d assigned as holiday homework. When everyone’s paper was collected, the man got to business. “Today, and for the rest of this term, we embark on preparation towards your Potions OWL practical exam. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that in your practical, you will be expected to have no instructions in front of you. That means you will have to learn and revise ingredients and methods off by heart, if you are to pass and advance to NEWT.”

Harry felt content, for he’d already memorised half of the curriculum already. He shared a knowing look with Amelia, Dorea, and also Blaise and Theo when Snape wasn’t looking. 

“This period we will focus on the Befuddlement Draught. I will only permit you four minutes to both set up and to quickly read over the ingredients and recipe. However, after that, I will take your books to ensure no cheating goes on.” Snape said meticulously, as he wandered between the desks. Neville blanched slightly at that, and Snape almost smiled maliciously - as if he knew that Neville was going to make a fool of himself.

“Your four minutes starts now.”

With that, everybody scrambled to get their equipment out as quickly as possible so that they would have more time to read over the Befuddlement Draught. Harry took it a bit easier though - the Draught was one of the ones he knew off by heart already, though he quickly skimmed over it to make sure. Seamus and Dean were reading quite frantically, and Neville was mouthing as he read. When Snape’s back was turned, Harry nudged Neville. “Just watch me brew, and do exactly what I do.”

Neville looked amazed. “R-really?”

“Yes,” he assured his friend, “I can go as slow or as fast as you want. I’ve already memorised this potion.”

Neville quickly showed his appreciation before Snape turned back around. “One minute remaining.”

When the minute was up, Snape summoned everybody’s books to the front. With that done, he said, “You may now begin.”

There was a slight wait, as Draco, Crabbe and Goyle took some time to collect their ingredients. Harry grabbed everything he needed, and watched as Neville, standing next to him, did the same. That done, they walked back to their table, where Harry started preparing the ingredients. Neville’s eyes kept darting from his cutting board to Harry’s as he prepared all the ingredients in exactly the same way. When that was completed, Harry lit his cauldron, and smirked when Neville did the same to his - they were truly in tangent with one another.

Snape already seemed to be getting suspicious, as he kept looking over at them. He was probably wondering how on earth they were already prepared ahead of almost everybody else. When Snape wasn’t looking, Harry felt it safe to add the first ingredient, which was scurvy grass. 

Confident that Neville was following his every move, he could now focus on getting everything timed perfectly. After five minutes, the sneezewort went in, and after that followed a minute’s worth of stirring both clockwise and anticlockwise. Ten minutes of letting the potion simmer meant that it was time for the Lovage to go in, and then be stirred clockwise once. Though that was all the ingredients added, there were still a few processes and waiting still to go. A thought soon came to Harry then - the last time they’d been brewing the Befuddlement Draught in class, Crabbe had tampered with his potion to the point where Snape had vanished it completely. So far, Crabbe was firmly in his seat over at his bench, nowhere near their table. He kept checking every few moments, in case the boy was planning on another sabotage…

Thankfully, the period passed without any major incident. Satisfied, Harry gladly tidied up with the others when Snape said there was ten minutes of class time remaining. He ladled his potion into a glass flask and capped the top. Snape shot their table a filthy look.

Once he had labelled his potion, he went up to the front in order to place it on Snape’s desk, with the others. Just as he thought that lesson could be called a success, he suddenly felt something barge into him. _No!_ His mind screamed, as his grip loosened on the flask, and he could only watch painfully as the flask hit the ground and smashed.

As you could imagine, Snape was over in an instant, fuming. “Potter, your incompetence is glaring!”

He sighed, and turned to face the Potions professor. Over at the Slytherin desk, Malfoy and Pansy, as well as Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle, were looking giddy and laughing among themselves. “Professor, they clearly did something to make me drop my flask!” He pointed, not caring that Snape was not going to believe him.

“Do not blame others for your mistakes, Potter. Clean up this mess now, and get another flask filled - or else you will be leaving this room with a 0.” Snape leered, striding to the front looking victorious.

Harry quickly cleaned up the mess; though it truly should be Malfoy and his goons doing it, but he did it nonetheless. He fetched another flask, and headed back over to his cauldron, where thankfully there was still enough potion remaining. When he did that, he saw the platinum blonde hair of Daphne Greengrass appear next to him. “I’ll take it up to the front for you, if you like.”

He thanked her for offering, and carefully handed the flask to her. “Won’t Pansy and Millicent try and do the same to you?”

“If they do, I’ll just hex them, right here right now.” Daphne responded confidently. He grinned, and watched as she all but strode up to the front and placed his potion down neatly beside the others. When she returned, Blaise and Theo wandered over to them. Tracey was glad to not be near Pansy and the others either, as she got out of her seat and made her way over to Lavender, Parvati and Hermione. “Sorry about them being twats, Harry.” Theo said. 

He shook it off. “It’s no bother. Besides, I still had some Befuddlement Draught left anyway.”

When the bell dismissed them, they walked to the Great Hall for lunch. That lunch hour was spent mostly with his Slytherin friends, and he spent a bit of time talking to Tracey Davis. “What do you hope to take next year?” He started asking her about subjects.

“I think the same ones that I’m doing now, although I really don’t know if I’ll get good enough marks in Transfiguration to take it at NEWT. That goes for Ancient Runes and Astronomy as well… though I do like them, I have to think practically in terms of my career, and I don’t need them for what I want to go into. What about you?”

“Same as you, I think. Though it pains me, I don’t think I’ll continue with Care of Magical Creatures or Astronomy. I think I’ll be dropping History as well. But I’ve not totally decided yet, so that could change. Oh, Arithmancy too… I’m really not sure if I’ll be able to handle it at NEWT level.”

“Anthony and that say you’re quite good at it though?” Tracey said.

He was surprised. “Do they? I’m amazed they think that, I’m forever going to Anthony for help.”

“And that’s not a bad thing,” came from behind him, and when he turned, Anthony Goldstein was moving to sit next to Daphne, his girlfriend. “Even the best ask for help, Harry.”

“Do _you_ think I’ll be able to take Arithmancy at NEWT, Anto?” He asked his friend, with a look that demanded Anthony be honest.

“Yeah, why not?” Anthony replied, “besides, we’re all friends, and if we all manage to take NEWT together we can help each other out.”

That was true, but still, Harry would need to think about it. 

* * *

The rest of lunch passed by as normal, and soon enough Dorea was walking with her friends to go to fifth period - which was Ancient Runes. Since they got there a bit earlier, they lined up and just talked amongst themselves.

“Oh, that reminds me, did anybody else find the holiday homework she gave us quite tricky?” Dorea voiced, talking to nobody in particular. 

“The middle part was confusing,” Lisa Turpin said, moving to stand near her. She had her bag half-balancing on her hip as she fished her homework out. “But apart from that I think I got most of it.”

“There’s one part of my translation that doesn’t seem to make sense grammatically,” Padma said, a few others nodding, including her god siblings.

Looking down, Dorea pinpointed the part she struggled with in her own translation. “I got stuck on the part where there’s that Hydra symbol - what on earth does that mean?”

Hermione looked at hers. “Oh Dorea,” her best friend said, giving her a slightly disappointed look, “the Hydra represents the number nine.”

“Really?” She exclaimed, and looked to Amelia. “Did you know that?”

“I figured it out just yesterday,” Amelia nodded.

“I swear that the Hydra isn’t in the textbook!” She said, in part disbelief.

“It is in the textbook, Dorea,” Lisa Turpin grinned, “it’s on the page titled Creatures, and it’s beneath the Acromantula symbol.” Hermione and Amelia nodded, as if to confirm.

Dorea just shrugged. “Oh well, apart from that mine was okay.”

Eventually, Professor Babbling turned up and let them inside. They all took their seats and handed Babbling their homework translations. That period consisted of spending just over an hour translating a double-sided transcript that Babbling had obtained from the Ministry of Magic (her husband worked there), concerning a hearing that must have happened a long time ago, as it was written in Runic. It looked like a right headache - and everything barring the first paragraph was.

“How people used to write like this instead of using proper English, I’ll never know.” She heard Anthony mutter over at Harry’s table. Anthony had his head rested on his left hand but was looking as though he was nearing giving up due to stress. Half an hour in, Hermione seemed to be almost halfway through, but Dorea had only just gotten past the first quarter of the page.

Amelia was only slightly ahead of her. “What part are you at?” She asked very quietly across the table.

”The part where the first witness is being questioned,” Dorea replied before turning her page so that Amelia could see it. Her godsister began scribbling away at something in her notebook, and after a minute tore it out and slipped it across to Dorea (to Hermione’s silent chagrin). The paper read: “ _Yours is all correct. By the way, the first witness responds by saying ‘Yes, ma’am, I saw a Knockback Jinx clearly being used on a group of young Muggles’.”_

Dorea nodded her head in thanks before copying that answer. With that, she decided to get a move on and see if she could finish it before the end of the period. 

Dorea was slightly damned when she heard the bell ring to signal the end of fifth period, as she had battled her way through the transcript and had just come on to the very last sentence. 

“Put your name at the top of your translation parchment and leave it on my desk for marking. Your homework will be given back to you by tomorrow.” Professor Babbling told them as they stood up to disembark the class. She smiled at them on their way out, and noticed she spent a few seconds speaking to Harry - who Dorea noticed was looking quite windswept. “That was the hardest thing she’s assigned us yet.” Harry said as they walked together to double Defence.

“I’m so peeved, I just had come on to the very last sentence when that bell rang.” Dorea said. “That part about the third witness really had me stuck, I almost couldn’t figure out that the person was saying they were Stunned rather than stabbed.” Amelia said.

* * *

They eventually found themselves lining up outside Remus’s classroom, chattering amongst themselves and wondering what today’s lesson would consist of. Amelia was busy talking to Daphne when she felt arms wrapping themselves around her from behind. She squealed, knowing it could only be Theo.

She turned to face him. “Afternoon, you dork.”

He grinned back at her. “How’s your day been, baby?”

“Since we last saw each other at lunch?” She cocked a brow at him. “Runes was a bit hellish, but we all got out okay, if you must know.”

The door to the Defence classroom eventually opened, and a whole throng of students disembarked the class then. It appeared to be a sixth and seventh year NEWT class, as among them were Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet. Katie Bell was also among them. One of the last people to leave the class was none other than Adrien Pucey - he was talking to Remus just as they all came in, and talked for about thirty seconds before Pucey left. As the boy was leaving, Amelia noticed him glance in their direction; where his eyes landed on her. He smiled quickly before quickly looking away and stepping out of the class, shutting the door behind him. Shrugging that off, Amelia joined her friends in getting their wands out, preparing for a practical.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I was thinking that we should get some theory work done and dusted, so then we’re just left with practical revision to last you up until exam time.” Remus said, scanning his eyes over their desks. Though the class let out noises at the thought of doing theory work, they didn’t do much reading at all - Remus handed them all two past theory papers regarding Defence Against the Dark Arts. “The papers are the theory ones pertaining to last year's exam and the year before. Since you all clearly thrive when you are able to help others, I will let you all complete these two papers either by yourself or within groups. But just because I’m allowing you to talk does not mean that you can talk about anything - you must discuss class related stuff only.” He flashed a knowing smile in their direction. “Once you are completed, I will mark it myself. You have until the end of this period to complete whichever paper you wish to start off with first, and by the end of the double I expect you all to have finished the second one. Begin.”

Flicking open last year's paper, Amelia scanned her eyes over the first question that met her. “ _Where do Grindylows typically dwell? (1 mark)”_

 _“_ Gosh, that's third year stuff that.” Ron muttered from next to her. She imagined just about everyone was scribbling down ‘ _Lakes’_ as their answer to that question.

The rest of the paper got gradually more difficult and demanded more marks. When they had finished the first paper (just before the bell for seventh period), they took a short break before moving on to the second one Remus had given them. This paper from two years ago was a bit trickier; a lot of the questions were either 3 marks or more, and covered all topics. It took them right up until the bell to finish it off.

They handed Remus their papers before hanging back to chat with him for a few moments before heading down to the Great Hall for a much highly-anticipated dinner. Just as they came off the Grand Staircase, though, Dorea tugged Amelia back. “There’s that Ben Copper boy I was telling you about.” Her godsister murmured, and pointed across the corridor, where the third year was leaning against a pillar, looking very angsty.

“Is that the boy Lavender was on about?” She asked.

“Yeah, it is. Do you think we should talk to him?”

She nodded. “I’ll get Harry.” She tapped her twin on the shoulder, and reminded him of Ben Copper. With that, Harry told Hermione and Ron to save them seats at Gryffindor table.

They waited for the corridor to die down a bit before they approached Ben. Amelia had no idea what to expect, and neither did Harry or Dorea, seemingly. It was Harry who shuffled forward in the end. “Ben Copper?”

The boy turned around, lurching slightly. _Good grief,_ Amelia thought, _he’s more jumpier than Neville ever was._ “Y-yes?”

“I’m Harry Potter, this is my twin Amelia and my godsister Dorea Black. We’ve heard a bit about you.”

Copper looked a bit bewildered, but he was calming down by the second. “You mean, what happened to the village I live in over the Easter break?”

“Sadly, yes,” Harry said, sounding a bit unsure; as if he didn’t know if he should bring it up or not, “We’re sorry you had to witness that.”

Ben Copper smiled a bit. “I-it’s fine. I just… wish I could have helped out, to stop them..”

A thought came to Amelia then. “You’re not a DA member, are you?”

“I confess I’m not,” Copper said, looking down, “though I’ve heard great things. I just didn’t feel confident enough to join, but now I fear I’m missing out on something great.”

“There’s still time if you wish to join.” Harry suggested. 

“B-but, won’t I be really far behind?” Ben fretted.

“You will, but you won’t be the only one.” Dorea said gently. “Some people chose to join before the holidays, didn’t they Harry?”

Harry nodded encouragingly. “Yes, quite a few. If you wish, you could sign up.”

Ben Copper clasped his fingers together and sighed. “Oh… I want to, but then there’s the whole meeting new people aspect. I’m awkward as it is.”

“Dennis Creevey is your friend, is he not?” Amelia asked.

“I consider him my best friend. There’s Nigel as well, but he’s quite friendly with some Hufflepuff boys in our year - courtesy of the DA, - so he spends less time with me now.” Ben Copper admitted, flushing as deep crimson as the red on his Gryffindor robes. _Poor lad,_ Amelia really felt sorry for him.

“Trust me, you’ll be making new friends in no time. Every student in both the Junior and Senior groups have made at the very least 2 new friends from the DA. Trust me, Ben, it’s not a place where you get judged. It’s a place to better yourself.” Harry said, gently but firmly. Amelia thought her twin was handling this brilliantly; he was being so understanding and supportive. Ben Copper was clearly being more and more drawn to the prospect of making friends and joining the DA. After a few moments, the boy said. “O-okay, I think I’ll join.”

After Harry summoned the sign-up sheet and Ben had signed it, the boy seemed really happy. He told him to come along to the Room of Requirement at seven, and then explained how to find it. They then collectively decided to finally go to the Hall and have dinner.

When they walked towards their usual seats at Gryffindor table, Ben seemed to stick with them. They seemed to come to a halt where some second years were sitting. Upon further inspection, it was Dennis waving to Ben and wanting him to sit with him. However, Dennis was also sitting with some second years.

“Go on, Ben, you can make friends here.” Harry gently urged Ben. The third year looked to them for reassurance. When they all smiled at him, he took a deep breath and gladly sat down in the spot where Dennis was offering him. With that, they walked to their usual seats further down the table.

“He’s a really nice person, truly.” Dorea said with sympathy as she glanced back at their recent acquaintance. 

“Yeah, he is. He didn’t deserve to witness such horror.” Amelia said, referring to the fact that the Death Eater’s attacked his village. Harry ardently agreed.

* * *

The first DA session of the new term was kickstarted at seven that evening, courtesy of the Junior group. As promised, Ben Copper came along, and Harry couldn’t help but smile when the lad came in, talking with Dennis Creevey and Nigel Wolpert. 

That session in general went very smoothly. For the most part the session was mainly letting them do what they wanted, to get them back in the swing of things. Next week onwards he planned to introduce them to duelling each other (supervised, of course) to see how they got on. Ben Copper would have to wait a few weeks before he would be able to join in on that fun, though. Harry took him through everything he’d missed, and tried to quickly bring him up to speed whilst at the same time giving Ben time to take it slow. By the end of the session, they’d gotten through half of the spells. “There’s no rush at all,” Harry reassured his fellow Gryffindor, “we can practise for as long as you need.”

“Thanks, Harry.” Ben Copper smiled gratefully. 

When all the Junior’s had left, Harry got to work on tidying up the Room. He removed all the stray Cushioning Charm’s and wheeled any dummy’s back to where the others were. Satisfied, he left the Room of Requirement and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

Barely a minute into his walk did he stop, for he heard noises coming from around the next corner. Picking up the pace, he took his wand out just in case. When he rounded the corner, he was surprised to see that Ben Copper was standing, quivering. The reason why the lad was quivering was due to two Slytherin girls that Harry barely recognised.

“P-please! Don’t hurt me!” Ben was pleading.

“Shut up, Copper, just comply and we won’t bother your mudblood self any longer!” The main antagonist, a rough looking girl with a purple streak going through her short-cut hair, snarled, wand in hand threateningly.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Harry said, coming to Ben’s rescue. “Who are you two?”

“This is not your fight, Potter, leave us be.” The second girl, who had long greasy hair and looked almost like a doppelganger to Professor Snape, said in a haughty voice. 

“I will not just leave - Ben is my friend.” He said, not backing down. He crossed his arms in defiance. “You called him something horrible and derogatory; I want you to apologise to him immediately.”

“I will not! Copper here _is_ a mudblood, Potter, he has no right being here. We will not apologise for simply saying the truth-”

“You’re mistaken, Miss Snyde, Miss Murk. You _will_ be apologising.” Came from behind them.

When Harry turned, he was relieved to see Remus.

“P-p-professor Lupin…” The girl with greasy hair suddenly changed her tune, as did the one with purple in her hair. On closer inspection, the girl also had purple eyes.

“I do not know why you two target poor Mr Copper here, but I can tell you it ends here and now. What gives you the right to treat him that way? If you knew what he’s been through, you wouldn’t blame him for being a bit shy.” Remus was telling the Slytherin girls off sternly. “Now, apologise immediately.”

Once the two girls meekly apologised, Remus sent them back to their common room after taking points off Slytherin - ten each. After making sure that Ben was alright, Remus gently told him to return to Gryffindor Tower. Harry assumed he was to stay and talk to his honorary uncle.

“Thank you for standing up for Mr Copper, Harry.” Remus said, sighing a bit and rubbing his temples.

“It’s no bother, Moony, really. He’s now a DA member, so naturally I had to do it.” He replied, then spoke again. “Who were those two girls? I swear I can’t figure out who they were.”

“Third year Slytherin’s. The girl with longer hair was Ismelda Murk, the other one Merula Snyde. Truth be told, they’re little terrors. Constantly picking on people outside their own House, specifically younger ones.” Remus explained.

“I’m not being nasty, but if you hadn’t told me that I would have just assumed that the Ismelda girl was Snape’s daughter or something.” Harry said.

Remus took a few seconds to get what he was saying, but then let out a laugh. “I can see why you’d think that.”

They carried on talking for a few minutes, however Harry realised he’d have to get back to the common room soon - else a search party be called. Remus understood, and said that Sirius was expecting him anyway. Harry nodded, and with that they parted.

 _Merula Snyde and Ismelda Murk,_ Harry thought that night, as he was getting ready for bed, _I wonder if they’re notorious bullies?_ If it was up to Harry, if he caught them bullying Ben again, he would give them a piece of his mind. He made a mental note to ask his Slytherin friends about those two girls in the morning. There was a feeling inside of him that was telling him they came from a family of Death Eater’s - though he didn’t have solid proof of that. It was the way they threw that term about when they were taunting Ben, it just didn’t sit right with him.

  
  
  



	38. Marlene McKinnon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huh? What's this? Me posting two chapters in the space of a week? That's not happened since forever.
> 
> Next Chapter: Harry witnesses Snape's worst memory, and Dorea and Fred have their first tense moment as a couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so as the title suggests, this chapter will feature Dorea learning more about her mum, Marlene McKinnon. I also delve into Marlene's family a bit. Now, from some sources I've researched, a lot of non-canon sources claim that Marlene had at least four siblings. My headcanon is that she had four brothers and one sister. Please bear in mind that this is only a headcanon and not true fact. 
> 
> My personal favourite faceclaim for Marlene: Freya Mavor

Tuesday was a pretty straightforward affair, with both Charms and Transfiguration double periods spent working through past papers. Care of Magical Creatures was a bit different though - they did a practical with loads of different creatures, with Hagrid asking questions such as where certain names of the body parts were located, and questions relating to the creatures diet. Double Herbology at the end of the day was spent going over Belladonna, which was a rather tame plant, therefore meaning it was an easy class. 

After dinner on Tuesday evening, notices had appeared in the common rooms - dates and times of both the OWL and NEWT exams, which were happening in June. It was quite an extensive list, and it meant there were quite a lot of people crowded around it, trying to note down all the dates and times for the relevant exams. Amelia wasn’t really a fan of the fact that a lot of them were close together - in the first week, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defence and Ancient Runes were taking place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively. The second week was almost as bad - with Potions on the Monday, Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesday, Arithmancy on Wednesday morning (with Astronomy Theory in the afternoon, and their Astronomy practical that evening) and finishing off with History of Magic on Thursday morning and Muggle Studies that afternoon. Divination would be held on Wednesday morning, much to Ron’s chagrin. “The theory paper is only an hour, but then we’ve got the practical straight after it without a decent break or anything.” he was complaining.

On Wednesday, their classes were started off by their teachers talking about the dates and times of the relevant exams and explaining what will happen. “It is recommended to arrive in the Entrance Hall ten or fifteen minutes before the exams scheduled start time, to ask any last minute questions or to do some last-minute recapping.” Professor Babbling explained to the Ancient Runes class first period on Wednesday. “In regards to this subject, there will only be a theory paper, but for your other subjects you will also have practicals. The practicals always take place in the afternoons and there will be an interval period between the theory and practical to allow you a break.”

Professor McGonagall drilled into them the importance of honest work. “I must remind you all about the policy regarding anyone who thinks themselves smart enough to try and cheat. Multiple Anti-Cheating Spells are applied to all of the papers, and if you decide to take a pencil case into the exam it will be thoroughly checked beforehand. No student has successfully cheated since 1896. If any member of Gryffindor House in particular thinks about defying these rules… Well, dare I say you will face my extreme disappointment.”

* * *

After Transfiguration was Care of Magical Creatures, and as they walked down to Hagrid’s Hut, Harry found Blaise and Theo on either side of him, looking happy. A thought came to him then. “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you two something.”

Theo looked at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s just something that’s been on my mind these past few days - I had an encounter with two Slytherin girls on Monday evening; Merula Snyde and Ismelda Murk. Do you two know anything about them?”

Blaise grimaced a bit. “Those two girl are so annoying.”

Theo hummed agreement. “To get an idea of the type of people they are; they hang around Pansy and Millicent.”

“Ah,” Harry knew, “they’re just like them, I assume?”

“Yes, but twice as irritating. Merula has this weird obsession with being powerful. Trust me, it’s bad enough listening to them harp away in the common room.” Blaise said.

“How did you encounter them?” Theo asked, intrigued.

“They were bullying a member of the Junior DA - Ben Copper. I had to step in and deescalate the situation, though it was Professor Lupin that properly resolved it. They called Ben… that word people like Malfoy use against muggleborns.” Harry explained, hoping they knew what he meant at the end. Blaise and Theo understood, but didn’t repeat the word, which was nice of them.

That period was spent revising Bowtruckles in particular. It went by as normal as any Care of Magical Creatures class did, and Harry was surprised that even Malfoy had suspended taunting Hagrid behind his back; for the blonde seemed to be note-taking. Even Crabbe and Goyle were silent for once.

Last period of the day was Astronomy, although they would have it again at midnight. Sirius took them through the exam information, like the other teachers had done, and they spent that period doing multiple choice quizzes on theory stuff that Sirius thought most likely to come up in the paper. Though they had to just shade in their answer, Sirius also wanted them to say how they worked out their answer beside it. Harry surprised himself by getting an O - in Astronomy, he tended to get A’s or E’s, this was his first O. 

“You’ve certainly been revising!” Hermione remarked, impressed, after they’d self-marked their tests.

He flushed a bit. “I guessed a few, but I’m very happy with that.” 

Ron, sitting next to him, seemed to be another person experiencing firsts in Astronomy - for he’d gotten an E in the test. Hermione had got an O, and both Amelia and Dorea seemed pleased with their E’s. In fact, the whole Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class had got passing grades.

“Great work, guys!” Sirius beamed at them just before the bell rang. “The theory paper is really what brings your marks up. But that’s not to say you can slack off a bit when doing your star charts; lots of marks go into that part of the exam too. But I’m still super impressed with you all. Keep up the good work!”

The class seemed happy as they got up to disembark. Harry looked to his twin, who was talking to Dorea. Just as he went over to them, he heard Dorea saying something. “You can go on ahead without me, I need to talk to dad. I won’t be too long, save me a seat.”

“What are you going to talk to Sirius about?” Harry asked Dorea, as they were walking towards the door as a large group.

“Just something I’ve been thinking of… He’s never really spoken about my mother.” Dorea answered.

Harry was surprised a bit. “Now that I think about it - he’s mentioned James and Lily more times than he has your mum.”

Dorea nodded. “That’s what's been puzzling me. I just… would like to learn more about her.”

He understood. He suddenly felt a bit bad then - Sirius really did talk about Harry and Amelia’s parents more than the woman who was his fiance and mother of his daughter. It was no wonder that Dorea wanted to talk to him about her; Harry didn’t even know if Sirius had even mentioned Marlene McKinnon’s  _ name  _ at all in conversation. He smiled good naturedly at his godsister before she decided to hang back. He felt himself being pulled into a conversation with Justin and Ernie as they walked down the stairs.

* * *

“You alright, darling?” Sirius said to Dorea, noticing that she’d hung back.

“I’m good, dad,” she said, trying to sound optimistic, not knowing how the next conversation was going to go. “I was just wondering if we could talk.”

“About what?” Sirius replied, turning to face her after he filed their tests away. “If it’s about Fred - I haven’t done or said anything to him, if that’s what you’re asking.”

She smiled. “It's not to do with Fred. I was just… how do I say this..”

Sirius sat on his desk and waited patiently for her to find the words.

_ Oh fuck it,  _ she thought,  _ we have to talk about her at some point,  _ “I want you to tell me about my mother.”

Dorea studied her father carefully, trying to see how he was about to react. So far, his composure was still intact, but his eyes immediately darted down to the floor, though that was the only part of him that moved. “Ah.” Was all he said.

After a few moments of giving him time, she spoke again. “It’s just.. You’ve not told me much about her, and you knew her best.”

“I did.” Sirius said, and his eyes flickered back up. “I’m so stupid; of course we need to talk about her. I’ve neglected her memory so much, I… I’ve avoided talking about her for so long because it just makes me feel sad all over again.”

“It’s fine,” Dorea said quickly, “we can talk about her another time, when you’re ready-”

“-No, sweetheart, I want to talk about her now too.” he gently cut her off. He ran a hand down his face and took a deep breath. “She was a deity in life and in death. It would be insulting if she wasn’t remembered.”

That warmed Dorea’s heart. Though she had a picture of her mother - the original Order of the Phoenix photograph, - she was finally getting some closure at least as to who she was personality wise. She’d always wondered about the character behind the large smile and big eyes.

“Where to start… It’s fair to say you’re a perfect mix of me and her, darling. You have her quick wits; one of the first things she said to me when I asked her out was ‘ _ Sirius, I have heels higher than your standards’.” _

At that, Dorea barked laughter.  _ Okay, I definitely take after her there,  _ she thought happily,  _ but that’s also the sass that comes with being a Black. _

“I’m definitely using that line in future.” Dorea giggled. “Did she say yes to you then?”

Her dad smiled widely. “It took convincing, but yes, she did. Miraculously.”

It was clear that Sirius was thinking of what to say next. Dorea gave him some encouragement. “Tell me about her family - did she have any brothers or sisters? What were her parents - my grandparents, - like?”

He cleared his throat. “Your granny and grandpa were nice people, Dorea. Marlene’s dear mum was a pureblood, with some great ancestry to boast. Her dad was a muggleborn. Though Marlene’s dad was Scottish, they moved into the Manor in England that belonged to Marlene’s mum almost as soon as they were married. I think it was near a place called Carlisle… Together they had six children-”

“- _ Six?”  _ Dorea exclaimed. If they lived, those five siblings her mother had would have been her aunts and uncles.. She could have had cousins galore if not for Voldemort.

“Four brothers and a sister. The boys had traditionally Scottish names to signify her dad’s entrance and acceptance to the family. Their names were: Malcolm - who was the oldest of the boys, Lewis and Harris - who were twins, and then came Fergus. Her sister was named Agnes - she was very like your mum. It was her own undoing though.”

“How come?” Dorea asked hesitantly. 

“Agnes was the first of the McKinnon’s to die… gosh, it was horrible, she died barely a year after she graduated. She was a year older than Marlene, so we were seventh years when she passed. She died in her first deployment as a Healer to a place where Death Eater’s had attacked. She was just doing her job, providing aid to whoever needed it, and… they killed her.” Sirius explained, though he had a rough time doing so. He looked to the roof of the class as if he was staring up at the sky, willing himself not to get upset. 

Dorea felt sad too; her aunt sounded like a carbon copy of her own mother. She also thought of how upset Marlene must’ve been when the news was owled to her - she would have felt rotten, stuck at school and unable to go and help.  _ At least she had her friends around her,  _ Dorea thought, as a sort of conciliation. 

“Did her siblings like you?” Dorea asked, trying to change the subject.

“Malcolm, Lewis and Harris had graduated by the time we started dating, so it was Agnes and Fergus attending school with us when we went public. Agnes was delighted, though Fergus was initially quite shocked to say the least. He idolised me and the Marauder’s quite a bit. However, her other brothers sent letters saying that they were happy for us, but that if I harmed their sister in any way, they would castrate me with a rusted spoon.”

She chuckled. “I imagine her father said the same thing.”

“Oh yeah, the meet the parents moment was quite spectacular. Alasdair soon warmed to me though. Nice man.” Her dad seemed to be reminiscing now.

“Back to mum,” Dorea said, happy with all that information, “what was she like at school?”

“I’m sure you know she was a Gryffindor. She was roommates with Lily Potter, and Neville’s mum Alice. Their two other roommates were really close mates with us too - Dorcas Meadowes and Mary McDonald. Mary disappeared without a trace some time ago, and Dorcas died during the first war. Lily and Marlene got on like a house on fire - joined at the hip as much as me and James were. Even as a first year she was just so bubbly and friendly, yet had an aura of badassery about her. Much like you have, dear. She was very much no-nonsense, and stood up for those who she felt had been wronged. There was this one instance - a boy in our year had been obsessed with trying to get Lily to be with him. Your mother, sensing how uncomfortable this boy made her best friend feel, turns around and sticks her middle finger up at him across the courtyard, telling him to take a hint and back off.”

Dorea chuckled, picturing her mother’s energy. “That sounds bold.”

Sirius hummed. “She was amazing at everything. She wasn’t the most spectacular at school subjects; she was just your average student. She excelled at Charms and Defence, though. Art was also something that captivated her. Music too, she liked a lot of muggle bands. Believe it or not, she was also on the Quidditch team.”

“Really?” That shocked Dorea.

“Well, she was a Reserve Chaser, and only played like, two games, but she really took to it. You look like her when you fly - your style is the same.” Her dad was now looking at her in a way that made her think he was trying to picture Marlene there - maybe not as Dorea herself, but side by side. His eyes still had a glassy look to them.

Dorea tried to think - what else did she want to know? She felt happy with what she’d been told so far. After all, in the space of ten minutes she’d learned about her mothers family, her character, her likes and even hobbies. What more was there to know?

Then she realised; there was one more thing she wanted to ask. “Do you know exactly how she… passed away?”

Her dad straightened up. “Well, sweetie, that’s the thought I don’t like to dwell on.”

“Oh, you’ve made it this far,” she insisted gently, “we’re at the final chapter of her life story, dad, you can’t leave me on a cliffhanger. It’s not that I want to know - it’s just… everybody knows about how James and Lily died bravely, valiantly, full of love for their kids, and ever since I’ve learned about her I’ve wanted to know if Marlene McKinnon passed away with the same heroity in her heart.” 

Sirius inclined his head in a nod, as if he understood. “You’re right, darling, you have a right to know. I can only tell you what I… was told. I wasn’t there when she died - stupidly, I should’ve been there to protect her, protect them all. The whole family had been on high alert ever since the Bones’ family had been near wiped out, since Edgar Bones was their secret keeper and he’d been killed. You-Know-Who arrived with a battalion, and Alasdair ran outside. He offered himself up to them, to be killed, to bide his kids and wife more time to get away. Your grandpa was brave, but he was no match for them. I think it was Dolohov that did it - killed him, I mean. It was all over before you could know it. You-Know-Who murdered Lewis and Harris, and then your grandma. It took two Death Eaters to take Malcolm down fighting. Fergus to his credit managed to kill Avery Snr, but he’d only started Auror training the month before, so he was also no match. And then we arrive at your dear mum.”

Dorea allowed her father time to compose himself. Then he continued. “When Voldemort came to her, he didn’t murder her immediately. He just stood there, looking down at her as she accepted there was nowhere to run to. She was crying by this point, shattered. She’d just seen her siblings be brutally killed off and likely her mother too. Though your mumma was defeated, she did not embrace death. Instead, she had tried desperately to defy Voldemort to his face.”

Goosebumps were all over Dorea’s skin.  _ What a woman,  _ she thought, heart aching yet bursting with pride as she imagined her being brave and defiant despite knowing she was going to die any moment.

“Your mum… Apparently she said to Voldemort’s face ‘ _ You’ve lost.’”  _ Sirius’s eyes were very watery now. “She also said, ‘ _ You’ll never win’. _ And then Voldemort killed her.”

Her dad now had his head in his hands, but he didn’t make any sound to indicate he had burst into tears. Dorea just felt a bit empty - she loved the fact that she could now be truly proud to call Marlene McKinnon her mother, yet at the same time yearned for her. To put it fairly, Marlene had been a queen in life, and she was sure everyone who knew her would agree.  _ I’ll make you proud, mummy,  _ Dorea thought,  _ the next generation of freedom fighters will carry on your legacy, so that everybody who died at the hands of Death Eater’s didn’t die for nothing. _

“Oh, dad…” She didn’t quite know what to say. “She.. She was amazing.”

Sirius had let a few tears slip, but he wasn’t full on red in the face balling. “She was a gem. You are  _ so  _ like her, Dorea. You channel her spirit, and for that I could not be more proud. If she was here to see you now - I guarantee that she would be immensely proud of the person you are becoming. She would support you in everything, as I do.”

“She’s with us in here,” Dorea held her hand over her heart. 

“That she is. She’ll be up there guiding you through life, I bet. Along with your grandparents, uncles and aunt. Lily and James will be too, and even Dorcas and Mary, wherever they are.” Her dad said softly, and then pulled her in for a hug. They hugged for what felt like ages, glad that they had bonded a bit more after clearing the air of that tough subject. When they had both calmed down, they pulled apart.

“Thank you for telling me about her, dad,” Dorea said, “truly. It’s good to hear stuff about her.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Sirius said, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry it took me so long to talk about her. If only she could be with us now.”

“If only,” she repeated, “but we can’t dwell on the past. Her legacy will carry on through us, I know it will. She’d want us to, wouldn’t she?”

Her dad nodded. “Yes. She’d urge us to go on in living, and live for her.”

She smiled up at him, and he smiled back, corners of his eyes creasing slightly. “Well, I better get on down to dinner.”

Sirius nodded avidly. “We better, else our friends start worrying.”

The father and daughter walked down to the Great Hall together, a slight spring in their step now, as Sirius decided to tell a funny story about how Marlene was prone to prank even the Marauder’s from time to time. Dorea laughed as he told the story, happy that her and her mother had another thing in common - fun. When they eventually got to the Hall, everyone was in there. It felt a bit daunting walking in, but mostly everyone was engrossed in either eating or talking, so nobody really gave them anything other than a glance (except those who still thought Sirius attractive).

Dorea said bye to her dad before sitting down opposite Harry. She smiled at them as she started plating up - glad that dinner was an hour and a half, as she wouldn’t have to rush.

“Did you learn anything about your mother, then?” Hermione asked. Her friends looked eager to know.

“A lot, actually. I’ll tell you all about it.”

So she did - Harry, Amelia, Ron and Hermione listened as she relayed what Sirius had told her, and hung onto every word. They seemed really intrigued. Dorea left out the part about how she died - she would tell them in a less busy place, in case they started crying or something. 

“So as well as Regulus and technically Lupin being your uncles, you’ve also got four other ones and an aunt.” Ron said, piecing it all together. “Imagine how brilliant it would be if they lived - you’d have a huge family!”

She grinned. “I guess that would be awesome. I wish I knew more about them, too, I don’t even know what they looked like. Or my grandparents.”

“I know they were murdered, but do you think their house still remains? Or a Gringotts vault?” Amelia pondered.

“Possibly, I’d have to ask dad. Though the McKinnon’s weren’t pureblood, they did used to be some time ago before they started mixing with muggles, so that implies that they might’ve had a vault and an ancestral home… But I don’t know.” Dorea said.

“I could look in the library for you,” Hermione offered. “I think there’s books on all of the wizarding families, both extant and extinct.”

“That would be great!” Dorea nodded. “We can organise a date to do it together. We can also check Tomes & Scrolls during our next Hogsmeade visit.”

After dinner, the Gryffindor team had Quidditch practise - which Dorea had almost forgotten about, and had to be reminded that Angelina had upped their practises to three times a week Tuesday-Thursday. It went okay, though their Captain clearly wanted them to be ultra ready for the Final at the end of May. “Though Slytherin are down a Keeper, their replacement for Bletchley looks stronger than him.” Angelina explained. The practise in itself went relatively smoothly, although Alicia did sprain her wrist, but she was quickly seen to. 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the first week back went by relatively the same; classes were mostly dedicated to revision, and the teachers kept assigning either past papers or quizzes for them to do. The plus side was that there was less homework to do now - as mostly everything had been covered. Only Professor Snape, Lupin and Vector were assigning homework still. In Remus’s case it was just making sure to get everything covered in time before June. 

Harry found he was also spending a bit less time in the Room of Requirement, however when he was going, he was delaying time more. When he wasn’t revising theory, he was practising the practical stuff. He nearly tired himself one night, when he got that engrossed he spent half an hour duelling one of the dummies at a level slightly higher than usual. He had no clue what spurred him to train that hard; and he regretted doing it now, but at least it blew away some cobwebs. 

The Senior group of the DA met again for the first time since the end of last term on Saturday evening. They spent half the session taking it easy, so the dummies were wheeled out. Harry figured he’d let people start duelling each other either next session or the one after. As usual, halfway through the session the Defence study group commenced, where Harry told them a bit about Counter spells. He told them the theory, and then they practised it. When a sixth year Hufflepuff asked him a question that was a bit out of his knowledge range, he directed the lad to Professor Flitwick instead, who answered it instead. 

He was also back practising Occlumency a bit more. Though every night he was strengthening his mind shield and meditating, he felt he was ready to do more. Susan had mentioned memory stores and what not. At breakfast on Sunday morning, he approached her.

“I know we’re quite swamped right now, but I feel like I’m ready to learn more about the other Occlumency methods.” He said to her.

She agreed. “Have you read up on them?”

He shook his head.

“It’s no bother. Are you free all morning? We could go to the Room and I can take you through the theory and information about the memory stores to start with.” Susan asked him.

“I am free, although we’ll have to be mindful - Ernie and Justin are having their Astronomy study group at half ten.” He replied.

Susan nodded. “I’ll have to go to that too. Though memory stores are complicated to do practically, the theory of it is not too bad. We’ll be done before ten if we go now.”

So they went to the Room. He brought the book that Susan had given him regarding Occlumency, and just as well, for she read from there. He wrote down what he felt was important. The process seemed simple enough - to store a memory, one had to think of it from start to finish, but simultaneously meditate and be focused enough on it to literally lock it away within the mind. “This is gonna be so hard, I can tell.” He said, and Susan laughed.

“You mastered the Occlumency shield in literally no time at all, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got the stores in one go too.” 

Susan also asked him if he wanted to attempt it right now, and although he wanted to, politely declined. He wanted to be fully knowledgeable regarding it and know the procedure inside out. Susan Bones understood, and with that they concluded their session. 

Harry joined his squadron of friends as they attended the Astronomy group session together outside in the sun. It was fair to say that Ernie did most of the talking, but he did share his workload with Justin, who was knowledgeable at physically finding everything via the telescope. It was a good session, as they all helped each other out in one way or another. At lunch time, they concluded the meeting. However, everyone was a bit confused when Hannah Abbott got up quicker than everyone else and strode towards the entrance on her own.

“What’s up with Han?” Padma wondered, looking concerned.

“I’ll go and see,” Megan Jones said, getting up and jogging after her friend. Susan went after them too. Neville looked like he was about to get up too, but changed his mind last minute. 

When Megan and Susan returned and sat with them at lunch, everybody wanted to know why Hannah left so abruptly. “It’s nothing too serious, but the OWLs are definitely getting to her. She’s quite stressed - she kept saying how much she was going to fail and what not. We took her to Madam Pomfrey who gave her a Calming Draught. She’s fine now, but is going to take it easier and stay in her dorm until dinner.” Megan explained.

Everyone understood and sympathised with Hannah. She definitely wouldn’t be the last student to be going to the Hospital Wing with exam stress. In fact, since the first week, the toilets were a commonplace to let your stress out - either via panicking or crying. Some NEWT students in particular were to be found there, worrying about their future careers and the upcoming exams. Harry had even found Carl Hopkins (who was a sixth year Gryffindor, DA member, and brother of Wayne) hidden amongst the back shelves in the library one night, head in his hands and trying to calm himself down. 

On Sunday afternoon, Harry noticed that the Quidditch pitch was free, and mentioned to Ron, Amelia and Dorea that they could go out and get extra practise in (especially as Ron would benefit without the rest of the team or school watching him). They agreed, and went to grab their brooms. Hermione came with them, but she said she’d stay in the stands and just watch them. They playfully rolled their eyes when she brought  _ Numerology and Gramatica  _ out with her; she couldn’t bring a bigger book if she tried. __

After quickly changing they took to the air. To keep it interesting they altered the Keeper every few minutes or so. Ron excelled in this more friendly setting, barely letting in as many goals as he was prone to in matches. It was a frustrating problem - nervousness, - but it couldn’t really be helped apart from with confidence. Harry made sure to always compliment Ron when he saved to see if that helped him, and it seemed to. 

Just as Amelia was lining up to take a shot, did they hear from down below them their names being called. Looking down, Harry seen Hermione and who he soon realised was Hagrid standing on the pitch, looking up at them and waving to come down. They quickly flew downwards to see what was up.

“Hagrid,” they nodded in welcome.

“Am sorry teh disturb yer downtime, but there’s sumthin ye’s need teh be shown.” Hagrid said. 

They looked to one another. “What is it?” Dorea asked.

“A secret,” Hagrid answered, looking around, “A’ve been hidin’ it e’er since I came back from France. It’s in the forest.”

“Give us five minutes.” Harry said, referring to their brooms. Once they locked their brooms away, they decided to change back into their ordinary robes. 

They met up with Hermione and Hagrid again, and quickly moved towards the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid wasn’t for telling until they got there. Harry wondered what on earth this was going to entail.

“I ‘ppreciate this, you five, I really do,” said Hagrid as they reached the entrance. 

“Hagrid, what are you showing us?” Ron asked, looking around for any indication of the surprise.

“Wait, why are you armed?” Harry realised that there was a crossbow slung behind Hagrid’s back.

“Jus’ a precaution,” Hagrid mumbled, “the Centaur herd ‘as been a bit hostile lately is all.”

They shared doubtful looks with one another. Soon enough, Hagrid’s steps got longer; for every one of his giant steps they took three. It became increasingly hard to keep up with him. The path became increasingly overgrown, and it became a challenge to not get caught up in nettles or brambles. Once or twice their robes became snagged on branches which was a bit irritating.

They came to a clearing, and it was here that Hagrid stopped at last. They breathed sighs of relief. “Are we here yet?” He asked.

“Almos’ there,” Hagrid replied, “just a bit further. Jus’ want teh tell you’s now - don’t be ‘larmed when you see him.”

“ _ Him?”  _ Amelia perked up. “Who’s  _ Him?” _

“Well, we’re ‘bout teh find out. Now don’t be makin’ too much noise, that’ll startle him no end.” Was all Hagrid said, walking further.

They walked on for a few more minutes, but then all of a sudden Hagrid stuck his arm out behind him and gestured to be quiet. They followed his lead, quietly creeping forward, wondering what they were about to see.

Lying up against a tree (with about four trunks ripped up around him), was what could only be a giant.

“Sleepin’” Hagrid breathed.

The giant was sound asleep, however there was a rhythmic rumbling sound coming from it which sounded like some lungs at work. 

“Hagrid, did you take this giant back from France with you?” Dorea asked, sounding concerned.

“I ‘ad to, he was being bullied no end by the others for being smaller-”

“-Smaller?” Said Ron and Hermione simultaneously, as if they didn’t believe it.

“Well, he’s only sixteen feet tall, y’see-”

“-Oh yes, tiny, miniscule!” Amelia said sarcastically. 

“I couldn’t just leave him t’that, so he came back wi’ me.” Hagrid finished, as if it was some normal story.

“Is that why it took you almost two months to get back?” Harry voiced. “You were lugging a sixteen foot giant along behind you?”

Hagrid, a half-giant himself, nodded. “Not just any old giant, ‘Arry, he’s my half-brother!”

Hermione and Ron just stared between the two. Amelia and Dorea were unreadable, and Harry didn’t know how to react. 

“So..” Hermione said after a few long moments, “Is this what you wanted to show us, then? Your half-brother?”

“His name is Grawp.” Hagrid said, with a bit of pride.

“Grawp..” Ron repeated, as if he was not expecting that name choice.

“I’ve bin tryin teh teach him some English, as it ‘appens.” Hagrid explained. “Not going tha well. I was jus’ thinking… Dumbledore’s probably going teh give me more work teh do with the Order next year. By next year I mean a’er the summer holidays. Now, it was jus’ a thought, but if I am going teh be away nex’ year, Grawpy here will need someone teh look after him.”

The five of them looked wholly unsure. “What does that entail?” Hermione asked.

“Not food or anythin. He can get his own no problem. It's the company he needs. Needs teaching a few manners.” Hagrid replied.

Harry wondered how on earth you went about teaching a giant that barely spoke a word of English any sort of manners or etiquette. Was there a universal giant language? Grawp had come from France - did he know French? Doubtful, but you never knew. 

“So you’ll do it then?” Hagrid asked hopefully.

“Well… we will be in sixth year next year, which is a busy year, but I’m sure we can figure out something.” Dorea said, not sounding very willing.

“Even if it’s just two of you that come and see him and sit and talk ter him. Reckon he’ll pick up on a few words that way.” Hagrid said, pleased that they were on the same line as him.

“We’ll try.” Harry said, smiling, though he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at the prospect. 

“Oh, I knew I could count on you five.” Hagrid said happily. “Right, now that tha’s settled, lets get you’s introduced.”

The five of them looked very alarmed. “You’re not going to wake him up, Hagrid, are you?” Amelia asked.

“Why not?” Hagrid replied, already standing near the giant.

“Hagrid, no!” Hermione said desperately, “We can meet him another day, when he’s awake.”

“It’s fine, Hermione, just a short introduction so ‘e knows your faces.” Hagrid said, and with that he gently slapped Grawp awake. The giant woke with a start, and looked down at Hagrid. Without warning, the creature let out a yawn, but the sheer volume of it made it sound like a low roar.

“Now, Grawpy, I’ve brought yeh some friends!” Hagrid said cheerily to the giant as if he was a normal human being. “They’ll be teaching yeh some English, and how teh be less uncouth.” The giant made a noise. 

“I don’t like this one bit.” Ron said quietly next to him.

The giant did look at them, and Harry wondered if he sensed their uneasiness - as he let out another roar which made Ron, Amelia and Hermione flinch. 

“Now now, Grawpy, settle down-” Hagrid tried to say, raising a hand, but Grawp only let out a louder roar. The giant actually got to his feet; and it was here that they noticed that Grawp was actually tied up.

“Is he dangerous, Hagrid?” Amelia called out over the noise, gesturing to the thick ropes tied around the giant's huge feet..

“He’s harmless-”

“-I doubt that very much!” Hermione said shrilly.

Now that Grawp was on his feet, it was clear as day how big he actually was.  _ If he got bullied for being small, how big were the other giants?  _ Harry wondered. The giant was at least three feet taller than some of the trees in the near vicinity, and his legs alone were thicker than some of the trunks.

The giant was having an episode to himself, Hagrid’s attempts at calming him down proving fruitless. Though he was walking about, he couldn’t walk very far - the ropes only allowed him to walk about eight feet from the tree he was tied to. 

There was one moment where Grawp actually calmed down, looking to both Hagrid and the five of them seemingly with interest. Ron shuffled uncomfortably next to Harry, and Dorea gulped audibly. But then the giant was trying to move forwards, and one of his arms made a move towards them.

They all quickly moved behind one of the thicker trees, Hermione shrieking a bit. Try as he might, Grawp’s arms couldn’t reach them courtesy of his bounds.

“Bad Grawpy, bad! They are your friends!” Hagrid tried to tell his half-brother off. 

Grawp roared again, so loudly that they felt the vibration of it hitting the tree they were hiding behind. They then heard the sound of rumbling. When Amelia poked her head around, she said it was Grawp attempting to upend one of the trees over by him.

Hagrid appeared next to Harry. “Can we go now, Hagrid?” Ron asked.

“He’s seen our faces, he knows us, so surely we can come back another day?” Amelia added.

“Yes, we better get goin’. Don’t want the school wondering where we are. Another time we can teach him yer names.” Hagrid said, ushering them forward. They barely looked back at Grawp as they exited the scene.

When they were safely out of the forest and back near the quidditch pitch did Hagrid leave them with farewells. When he was safely out of earshot, did they finally catch their breath and process the past half an hour.

“Do you think he really wants us to dedicate time to that thing?” Ron said.

“I get why he wants to get him used to human company, but how are we meant to teach him English when he doesn’t even understand it in the first place?” Harry nodded, adding to that.

Even Hermione was in agreement. “I’m not sure the poor giant even wanted to come here… But we will keep our promise to Hagrid, we owe him.”

They agreed, if only for Hagrid’s sake. “God knows when we’ll actually have time next year to spend with him.” Amelia said.

“We’ll make it work.” Dorea said.

“I think we’ll need to read up a bit on giants,” Harry said, “you know, to understand them a bit more.”

They agreed with him, even Ron. With that, they made their way back up to the school - in hopes of finding some of their other friends to spend time with.

  
  



	39. Professor Snape's Worst Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crikey it's been almost a month since the last update sksks. Work and college have been hectic and have not been forgiving in the slighest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faceclaim for young James Potter: Aaron Taylor Johnson  
> Faceclaim for young Sirius Black: Ben Barnes  
> Faceclaim for young Remus Lupin: Andrew Garfield  
> Faceclaim for young Peter Pettigrew: Jamie Bell  
> Faceclaim for young Lily Potter: Sophie Skelton  
> Faceclaim for young Marlene McKinnon: Freya Mavor  
> Faceclaim for Dorcas Meadowes: Logan Browning  
> Faceclaim for Mary Macdonald: Hannah Murray  
> And at last, faceclaim for young Snape: Louis Garell

Their second week back was kickstarted by Ophelia Nott’s letter finally arriving to tell them about her new job. Harry could sense how happy the woman was through her writing, as she told them that her job was going really well.

“ _ Everyone has been so welcoming, and surprisingly the work is not too demanding. But we all know that will only change when You-Know-Who moves out into the open more. My first shift felt like the longest seven hours of my life, but the days are passing quicker now. _

_ My work entails mostly on the children’s ward, as you knew. Though I also get drafted into the elderly wards - short staff, you see. I’ve made plenty of friends and can’t wait to do more. _

_ I do feel sorry for Reggie when I’m at work, being stuck at the Manor with only Ditsy, Dippey and Buckbeak remaining, but he insists he’s fine. He says hi to you all, by the way, and hopes classes aren’t throwing you in at the revision deep end too much. _

_ Harry - I did what you asked, and asked my manager for a copy of loads of different job descriptions and duties for different roles here at St Mungo’s. I have enclosed them all for you to read through, they’re really detailed about exactly what’s required and what you’d be doing on a typical day. Share them with anyone else that wants to read. _

_ Keep up all your good work and revision! _

_ Much love to you all, _

_ Ophelia/Mumma xxx” _

Harry had a quick skim through the aforementioned job descriptions that Ophelia had kindly given him, mentally noting to himself to properly read through them when he had a chance. He was going to need to read them anyway, especially since he was considering going into Healing after he graduated. Since he’d actually completed taking notes of every single topic they needed to know in History of Magic, he spent those periods reading over the papers instead of his usual self-study. There were just so many different jobs and responsibilities, he didn’t know if he’d be able to even choose just one. 

It was that evening in the common room that he just wanted to take his mind off future jobs completely. He elected to watch Ron, Dean and Seamus play a game of Exploding Snap, though in his lap he had what was previously Susan Bones’s old Occlumency book. He tried to read it, although it was hard to when the little game happening in front of him kept - well, exploding, - every minute or so. Dean was the first one to be knocked out, his final card going up with a bang. After a further ten minutes of play, Seamus had won the little match, much to the Irish boys delight. Ron didn’t even seem that bothered he’d just lost a game of Exploding Snap. 

As time trickled on, Harry was getting more and more confused regarding memory stores. He was still on the same page from the one he’d started thirty-five minutes ago - in the book, the method and steps to undergo storing memories, even with Susan’s annotations at the side, were not making any sense to him. It was just that vague it was boggling him no end. Amelia and Dorea had gone up to their dorm ten minutes ago, so he couldn’t ask their opinion, but there was Hermione.

“Well, why don’t you go to Professor Snape?” She suggested.

He stared at her. “Are you mental? Why would I go to him?”

“Because he was previously the one  _ teaching _ you Occlumency, Harry!” Hermione replied briskly. 

“Yeah, well he made it very clear he didn’t want those lessons to continue once he learned Susan was teaching me.” He said.

“But he’ll likely have the answer to your question,” Hermione pointed out, “it’ll take you all of five minutes to go and ask him.”

He hated the idea, and knew he’d be poorly received by the teacher, but he did really want to progress with Occlumency. Plus, he knew it would be bugging him otherwise if he didn’t resolve his issue. Sighing, he stood up and walked towards the portrait hole, telling Hermione to get McGonagall if he wasn’t back within forty minutes.

Walking down the Grand Staircase - wand on his person, just in case somebody wanted to emulate Francis Selwyn again, - Harry had an inkling that this meeting wasn’t going to go well. He knew that Snape would be delighted to hear of his struggle, and would probably torture him even more by not answering any questions he had. Just as he came off the Grand Staircase, a whole throng of students were leaving the Great Hall - carrying toads. Clearly, the Frog Choir had just finished a practise session. He nodded at the mostly junior year students as they walked past and said hello.

He walked down into the dungeons, and grimaced when he realised he was about twenty metres away from Professor Snape’s office. “This is all pointless,” he said under his breath, “he’s going to open the door, see me, and slam it in my face.”

When he did arrive at the door, he took a few moments to prepare himself. To anyone else he looked like a bit of a loony - just standing staring at a door and shuffling about. Thankfully there was nobody about to see him though - even from out here in the corridor he could hear the chatter of Slytherin common room. 

He knocked on the door.

He immediately just wanted to jog off back to Gryffindor Tower, to forget this. It was a stupid pursuit anyway, he knew Snape was going to tell him to go away once he seen him. 

The door opened, and Snape was glaring straight away. “Potter, it’s bad enough seeing you for classes. What could you possibly need of me at this hour?”

“It’s a question about Occlumency, sir.” He said. Snape looked at him with a raised brow.

“Get inside, then.” The man gestured, standing aside. Once Harry was inside the office, the door slammed shut. “Well get on with it!”

He ignored the man’s attitude. “I was wondering about how you even go about physically starting the method to memory stores.”

After a few moments, the Potions master spoke. “Interesting dilemma. Have your efforts with Miss Bones come to a halt?”

“No, we met last Sunday, but only to go over the theory of it. I just wanted to know about the method - as the instructions in the book she gave me are very short and vague.” He responded.

“I have never attempted memory stores myself, Potter, but I do know of a book that has more detailed instructions to the method.” Snape started to explain. 

Just as Harry was about to ask about the book did he feel himself being pulled into a state where he was observing his mind and its subsequent shield. He was soon pulled out of that state though. “What was that for?” He asked.

“Just checking that you are not all talk when it comes to Occlumency, Potter, and that you are practising. Your mind shield is one of the strongest I have seen.” Snape said, storing his wand away. “Anyhow, the book I am referring to is-”

Snape’s office door banged open and Draco Malfoy sped in. “Professor Snape, sir… oh, sorry.”

Malfoy was looking between the two of them with a look of deep surprise.

“It’s alright, Draco,” Snape said, moving towards his student. “Potter is here because of the abysmal grade his recent Befuddlement Draught received. It seems he can brew every other potion except the easiest one on the curriculum.”

Harry had not seen Malfoy look so giddy since that time Umbridge turned up to inspect Hagrid. “Maybe if he didn’t  _ drop  _ his first flask it wouldn’t have been so bad.” Malfoy leered at him. Harry would have smirked; he wasn’t here for that at all, and his Befuddlement Draught from last week had actually received an O despite it. 

“Well, Draco, what is it?” Snape asked.

“They’ve found Montague, sir, he’s turned up stuck in a toilet on the fourth floor.” Malfoy said. Harry nearly let his smirk out this time - Fred and George had shoved Graham Montague of the Slytherin team into a broken Vanishing Cabinet just two days ago, when the boy tried to harass Katie Bell. 

“How did he get in there?” Snape demanded.

“I don’t know, sir, he’s a bit confused.” Malfoy replied. 

“Very well, very well,” Snape said, and moved forward, “Potter, see yourself out. We shall resume this tomorrow evening.”

With that, Malfoy and Snape left - Draco sending him a sharp look on his way out. Harry felt peeved that his question had come that close to being answered, but shook that off. 

Just as he was about to turn around and leave the office did he see it - Dumbledore’s pensieve in the corner of the room, glimmering pale light. He wondered what Snape was using it for. But of course - Snape could only be using it to store  _ his own  _ memories.... Memories he did not want anybody to access.

Curiosity brimmed inside Harry then - should he go and investigate, or just leave? What was in that pensieve wasn’t any of his business. But if that was the case, then why was it just sitting out in the open on Snape’s desk? You could almost say the thing was inviting, the way the light was dancing all around the corner wall. 

He glanced over his shoulder. How long would Professor Snape be away for? Surely he’d be gone a while - after all, Montague was the Captain of the Slytherin team, surely Snape would a) want to make sure he is okay, and b) want to know what happened for Montague to even be in a toilet in the first place. 

Harry decided then: he walked over to the desk and stood peering into the Pensieve, gazing into its luring depths. A sort of daring washed over him - with it, he took a deep breath and plunged himself straight into the almost watery surface of his Potions teachers thoughts, and felt himself go with it. 

He stood in the middle of the Great Hall, yet it was different. The house tables were not there, but instead it was occupied by smaller, singular tables all facing the same way, each occupied by about a hundred or so students. It was almost dead silent - the only sound that could be heard was the scratching of quills on parchment and the occasional quiet humming of thought. 

It looked to be a sunny day outside, as light was pouring into the room via the high windows. The room was also a bit stuffy, though it didn’t smell of anything bad. Harry looked around the room, surveying - This was Snape’s memory, so Snape had to be here somewhere, surely?

He found him. He was sitting straight across from Harry. Teenager-Snape had a pale look to him, though his hair was limp and greasy. His long hooked nose was almost touching the paper in front of him as he wrote. Harry read the title of the paper - DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS - ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL. It turned out that Snape was as young in this memory as Harry was now; for Harry would be similarly sitting OWLs in just under a month and a half. His handwriting looked similar to a scrawl, though it looked very cramped.

“Five minutes remaining!”

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. Turning to find the source, he located none other than Professor Flitwick walking among the tables. There was an instance where Professor Flitwick seemed to walk straight through Harry - had this been real life, he was sure they would have just bumped into each other and caused a great disturbance. 

When Harry looked back up, he noticed that a boy with unruly black hair had just straightened up after setting his quill down at the top of his exam table. He couldn’t believe it - he moved so quickly that he walked straight through about three people to see for himself.

Harry breathed, and stared down at fifteen year old James Potter.

Excitement soared within him as he studied the man. Now he understood why people said he and Amelia were carbon copies of their dad - they were very similar to him indeed. Although there were a few differences; James’s eyes were hazel, his nose was just a tad longer, and his unruly hair was curly at the top. James’s face was also structured nicely - he had prominent cheekbones and an evident jawline. 

James yawned and with one glance towards Flitwick, turned in his seat and grinned at another boy who was sitting four seats behind him.

Harry’s mouth fell open excitedly, for Harry recognised the boy as Sirius. His godfather was also sitting back at ease, clearly already finished the exam. He was superbly good-looking; his dark hair was slicked back, though some of it fell forwards. His face held a cheeky look to it as well. It was blatantly obvious that Sirius was among the most attractive boys in the school at the time - five girls sitting behind him were staring at his back with a hopeful look. Harry was in for a few more surprises, as his eyes landed on Remus. Young-Remus looked a bit paler than usual (the full moon was probably either approaching or had come and gone), and there were faint marks on his arms that you could see when his sleeves rolled up by themselves. Remus seemed to be re-reading his answers.

Using that same logic, that meant that the fourth Marauder, Wormtail, must also be around here somewhere. Though he didn’t like the mousy traitor for obvious reasons, he wondered what the coward was like back then. He also found him in the same vicinity as Remus - though Peter Pettigrew was hardly brimming with confidence like his friends were. His feet were nervously scuffing the floor beneath him, and he kept pursing his eyes together; as if he was willing an answer to come to him. From time to time he also kept glancing at his neighbours exam with a hopeful look. Harry gravitated back to his father, who was now drawing what looked like a Golden Snitch, although on closer inspection he was absentmindedly tracing the letters ‘L.E.’.

“Quills down, please! This concludes the allowed time for the exam!” Professor Flitwick said, his voice carrying. “That includes you, Stebbins! Please remain seated whilst I collect your parchments.  _ Accio!” _

Well over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed towards Flitwick’s small outstretched arms… which consequently knocked him over backwards. About twenty people laughed at the sight. Two students who were near the front got up out of their seats and helped Flitwick back to his feet. “Thank you, Fenwick, Podmore.” Flitwcik panted. “Very well, everybody, this marks the end of your OWL in Defence Against the Dark Arts. You’re free to go!”

Some people let out some whoops of celebration. James stood up, and Harry noticed their similar height. His father slung his bag over his shoulder and waited for Sirius to get up. Harry also kept tabs on Snape - for this memory had to be significant in some way. Snape was walking towards the door to the Entrance Hall, absorbed in the exam paper still, as his finger was tracing one of the questions and his mouth was moving wordlessly. The Marauder’s weren’t that far away from Snape, so Harry felt content. He heard Sirius ask Remus something about question ten, and a few moments later heard James ridicule Wormtail for being thick.

Thankfully he didn’t have to worry about Snape veering off in a different direction, for he seemingly followed the Marauder's towards the lake - where James and his three friends gladly slumped down on the lawn underneath the same beech tree where some of the study groups happened. Snape was sitting a distance away, though he was still in sight. Just as James Potter pulled a golden snitch out of his pocket did Harry notice some other groups congregating nearby - a group of girls were down by the lakeshore, some taking their shoes and socks off and paddling their feet in the water.

Harry was surprised when his father and Sirius walked towards him - as if they’d just noticed him, - and the former saying loudly, “Alright, Snivellus?”

Snape reacted so quickly you would have thought he was expecting it; he lunged his hand inside his robes and yanked his wand out. He was too late though, for James was already shouting “ _ Expelliarmus!” _

Snape’s wand was purged from him, landing with a tiny thud on the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter, “Nice one, James!”

James, who looked giddy from Sirius’s encouragement, stuck his wand forward again. “ _ Impedimenta!” _

People all around were beginning to watch this exchange. Some were gathering nearer, others electing to watch from afar. Only a few looked disgusted or apprehensive. Clearly, Snape was not a popular student. Wormtail was watching hungrily, though Remus interestingly wasn’t getting involved.

“How’d the exam go, Snivelly?” Sneered James Potter.

“I was watching him, Prongs, his nose was near touching the paper,” Sirius said snidely, “there will be great big grease marks all over it. The people marking it won’t be able to read a word for all the smudging.”

Snape was struggling to get up and defend himself, as the jinx was still on him. “You - wait!” He said through short breaths, looking up at his attackers with pure loathing.

“Wait for what?” Sirius leered, kneeling down, “What’re you going to do, use us as tissues to wipe your nose on?”

Snape let out a screech of choice words.

“You watch that filthy mouth of yours,” James snarled coldly, but then sent an excited look at the crowd gathering around them, as if he was saying, ‘ _ You’re all going to like this next part,’ _ , “ _ Scourgify!” _

Soap bubbles foamed from Snape’s mouth, the froth was dripping in excess down his chin, making him gag and choke. The crowd laughed for the most part, though some on the outside of the circle left without a backwards glance. A boy who was standing quite near James and Sirius was egging them on enthusiastically. “Get him, boys!”

Sirius grinned back, and said “Cheers, Fenwick.” whilst James saluted the boy and said, “We’ll give him hell, Benjy-”

“Oi! LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

The crowd looked around. It was one of the girls that was previously down by the lake edge. Her hair was ginger, quite long, and bright green almond-shaped eyes…

Which looked remarkably like Harry and Amelia’s eyes…

“Mum.” Harry realised.

“You alright, Evans?” Said James Potter, his wand arm dropping to his side, whilst his free hand went to his hair.

“Leave him  _ alone _ ,” Lily said, looking at James with every indication she did not approve of him, “What has Severus ever done to you?”

James muttered something about Snape’s mere existence being a contributing factor. Many of the surrounding students laughed. Lily didn’t, though. “You think this is all one big laugh,” she said harshly, “but you’re just a big arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.”

“I will if you go out with me, Evans,” James said with a raised brow and sly smile. “Go on, go out with me and I’ll leave Snivelly alone forever.”

Snape was beginning to regain strength as the jinx gradually wore off. He was crawling towards his wand, as nobody was going to pass it to him for him. 

“I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid.” Lily proclaimed with a filthy look. 

Sirius snickered, amused. Harry noticed two girls jog up to his mother - one he recognised as Marlene McKinnon. The other one was a darker skinned girl - beautiful and tall. It was the latter that spoke. “C’mon, Lils, they’re not worth it.”

“Yeah,” Marlene said, “Dorcas is right. Besides, they’re going to go back to tormenting Snape anyway when your back is turned. They’ll never lay off him.”

Just as Lily Evans was about to follow her friends, the crowd let out noises - for James had just started dangling Snape upside down. Lily, who for a nanosecond looked like she was about to smile, regained composure and said, “Let him down!”

James let out a noise, but let Snape crumple to a heap on the grass nonetheless. “You’re lucky Evans was here to save you, Snivellus.”

“I don’t need help from mudbloods like her!” Snape snarled.

There was a silence, and Harry almost gasped. Sirius and James looked ready to pounce on Snape. “Fine,” Lily Evans blinked, “I won’t bother in future. Also, I’d wash those pants if I were you,  _ Snivellus.” _

“You apologise to Evans right now!” James shouted at Snape. 

“I don’t want  _ you _ to make him apologise! You’re just as bad as he is!” Lily rounded on James.

James yelped, as if wounded. “What?! I would NEVER call you that… word!”

Lily started listing all the things that seemingly annoyed her about James. Harry was momentarily distracted when he saw two other girls over by Wormtail and Remus - one of them was Alice Longbottom; though in this memory she would have been Alice Fortesque. The other girl was a mystery - though he did hear Wormtail sigh and say, “They’ll never stop hounding him, Mary.” He made a mental note to remember that name.

When he tuned back into his mother’s rant, it looked as though she had had enough. “...It’s a wonder your broomstick is able to bear the weight of your fat head, Potter. You make me SICK.”

With that, his mother turned on her heel and stomped away, Marlene and the girl Dorcas following. Interestingly, Marlene didn’t even indicate that her and Sirius knew each other in this memory: which was funny considering they would eventually be engaged to one another, and Marlene would be the mother of Sirius’s child a few years after this memory. 

Harry heard Sirius say something along the lines of “bad luck” to James. He was hardly listening to them though as he watched the back of his mother, Marlene and Dorcas head back down to the lake. Intrigued, Harry felt himself following his mother and her friends. After that little episode, Harry felt a bit faint seeing what his father and Sirius were actually like. He followed them part of the way down the hill, where Mary and Alice soon fell in beside them. Lily was huffing and puffing in annoyance still. Unfortunately, Harry didn’t get to follow them down the hill any longer, as he felt a pull.

“Having fun?” Snape said slowly. Harry felt himself feel with dread.

That concluded his time in the pensieve. He felt himself be yanked out of it and back into the present. When he blinked, he was back in his Potions teachers office.  _ Uh oh. _

“Charming man, your father,” Snape said sarcastically. The man looked livid.

“I-I didn’t-”

“Get out,” Snape seethed, looming towards him. “You will not tell  _ anybody  _ what you saw in that device, Potter!”

“I-I won’t,” he said shakily, as Snape had just grabbed him and threw him harshly almost across the room. 

“Then get out! I do not want to see you in this office ever again!” His teacher bellowed. Harry had never left a room so fast, and flinched when a jar of pickled slugs was smashed against the wall via a Banishing Charm just as he crossed the threshold from classroom to corridor. Harry didn’t stop running until there was at least three floors between him and Snape. When he finally felt safe to breathe, all sorts of thoughts flew around his brain; both regarding his mother and his father. He was now beginning to understand why Snape called him arrogant all the time.

And to be honest, a small part of Harry couldn’t even blame Snape for hating James Potter so much.

* * *

  
  


Things started to look a bit pear-shaped on Wednesday evening.

After Astronomy seventh period, Dorea and the others gladly walked down to dinner. When they were walking down the staircase, she noticed that Fred appeared next to her. “Good evening,” she said to him, “how was Defence?”

Fred and the other NEWT students had just come from the class. “Lupin had us formally duel each other, actually. It was quite fun. Though he had me paired with Cadwallader… he's a miserable git for a Hufflepuff.” At that, Dorea giggled. 

Just as the whole school was slowly filing into the Hall, Fred put a question to her. “Hey, do you want to go out to the pitch half an hour before practise? I was thinking of practising the Dopplebeater technique, and you can get a feel for being a Beater. What do y’say, babe?”

“Oh, Freddie, I would love to, but once dessert is finished me and Hannah are actually going to go over some work for Muggle Studies.” She replied.

What Fred did next shocked her. His whole attitude changed. “You never have time to do anything anymore except study!”

“Oh Fred, come on, don’t be like this. We can easily do it tomorrow night. I just want to really do well and to alternate time between all of my friends.” She replied gently.

“You know what? Fine. You do you. I’ll just go practise with George instead.” Fred said, but in a tone that carried a bit of malice. With that, he walked ahead of her without a backwards glance or even another word. Dorea stared at the back of her boyfriend, scared shitless, as that was the first time he’d ever spoken to her like that. A whole tonne of possibilities entered her head then, as she realised she had been neglecting her boyfriend a bit.  _ I’m so horrible,  _ she thought,  _ how could I do that to him? _

She was glad when they finally sat down, for she felt dizzy and nauseous from nerves. She barely registered Ron asking if she was okay. She just faked a smile and said yes to appease him. 

Though Fred was sitting with George and Lee about halfway down the table, he was still within her peripheral vision. From time to time she just gazed at him, wanting to apologise straight away. She should have just said yes - Hannah would have understood, and wouldn’t have begrudged her. She sighed, spooning another mouthful of salmon into her mouth.

“Right, what’s wrong?” Hermione nudged her fork. 

Dorea looked up at her. “Nothing wrong particularly, I’m just feeling a bit crap.”

Hermione looked doubtful, as did Amelia. Harry and Ron were busy talking with Neville, so thankfully they didn’t notice her moping. 

After a minute or two, Amelia said, “It’s Fred, isn’t it?”

She looked up at her godsister. “How did you know?”

“I was talking with Anthony when we were walking down to dinner, but I saw Fred leave your side and walk away quite abruptly. He doesn’t look that happy either.” Was Amelia’s response.

“Did you guys fight?” Hermione looked shocked, though had the decency to speak quietly.

“Well, he just got annoyed at me, that’s all. He says I spend too much time studying and that I don’t have time to do anything with him anymore, which I’ve just realised is kind of true. Now I feel awful.”

Amelia and Hermione looked sympathetic. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, Dorea. Fred loves you.”

“Yeah, he’s probably just stressed from his NEWTs.” Hermione supplied. “After all, they’re doing far harder work than us.”

She guessed that could be a valid reason for his outburst. With one last longing glance down the table at Fred, she pushed him from her mind for now. She would resolve it at practise - after all, they’d be seeing each other there anyway.

After a slice or two of cheesecake and some delicious chocolate sauce, Hannah wandered over. Their little recap only took about ten minutes, double checking their answers for a question that came up in last year's Muggle Studies paper. Then, at seven, it was time for Quidditch practise. 

Dorea walked down with the rest of the team and the Reserve’s. Fred and George were already in the changing rooms when the others came down. You could say that the atmosphere was normal - everyone seemed to be chatting away. When Dorea came out of her changing cubicle, she almost walked right into Fred… But then realised it was George.

“Sorry,” she muttered, “didn’t see you there.”

George caught her lower arm as she was about to walk ahead.  _ Oh no, what if Fred told him and now he hates me?  _ She couldn’t bear to have both twins disliking her. “Fred told me about your scuffle.”

She tried to read his expression, “It was my fault.”

“Are you serious?” George said. “It was Fred who lost his head. You’re not to blame, Dorea.”

She was thankful he didn’t blame her. “But I have been neglecting him a bit. I just have been so busy, with the study groups and what not. I have to make it up to him…”

George understood. “He’ll be taking his anger out in practise, so watch out for any particularly harsh bludgers circling the air. Once he lets off some steam, catch him at the end. He feels terrible about how sharp he was with you, truly he does, but he’s more mad at himself.”

She couldn’t help but give him a side hug. “Thanks, Georgie, I’ll talk to him when we’re tidying up.”

Practise in itself went as usual - Angelina had them do about five laps of the pitch in both directions to warm up, and then they did some passing exercises in small groups. Dorea was put in a group with Fred and Alicia - and was a bit disheartened when he barely looked at her. When they got down to actually practising, she couldn’t really focus on him for obvious reasons, as both the officials and reserves were playing, but nonetheless she could tell how Fred was hitting bludgers with a bit more power than usual. The first word he uttered to her since his episode earlier was a simple “Sorry!”, as one of his bludgers hit the tail end of her broom, causing Dorea to spin. When she straightened back up they even made eye contact - but only for a second, as Dorea had to go up the pitch and support Ginny. 

When their hour-long session came to an end, Angelina was happy with everyone. “Practises next week will consist more of getting our strength up, and working our reflexes. We all know how nimble Slytherin actually are.”

With that, they dismounted their brooms and walked back down the slight hill where the changing rooms were. Dorea noticed that Fred was near the back, so gestured to Amelia and Ginny to go on ahead, and they knew why. Amelia even mouthed “ _ Good luck!” _ .

Fred was in fact bent down, as the laces on his shin pads had come loose. He seemed to almost fall in beside her when he was back up and walking again.

She suddenly realised she didn’t quite know how to start the conversation. The best she could come up with was “Hello,”

“Hey,” Fred said, though with no indication of his usual confident demeanour.

“Burnt off quite a bit of steam there,” she said, a tad awkwardly.

“‘Suppose.” Was Fred’s one word answer.

She stopped momentarily, to let some of her annoyance flare. “Have you elected to forget earlier?”

He looked back at her. “Look, I’m sorry for that, alright? I hate how I acted and how I spoke to you. I’ve been stressed - what with the NEWTs approaching, graduation, and how close me and George are to getting a premises. It’s not an easy time, Dorea.”

She sighed. “I understand that, Fred,” she said as gently as she could manage without praying for more patience, “but even though you were right in saying that I’m short on free time to spend with you, it didn’t warrant snapping at me.”

It was Fred's turn to sigh. “I know, it was unfair. But you have to admit, you’ve been that focused about spending time with all of your friends that you’ve forgotten about me a bit.”

“Do you think I’m ignoring you on purpose?” Dorea replied, a bit more tersely than what she intended.

“Who knows,” Fred said, “I barely know anything anymore.”

“Woah, right,” Dorea said, internally calming herself down before this dissolved into an actual full-blown fight. She didn’t want that at all. “Let’s not do this. Let’s think of solutions to this problem instead.”

“Can it wait until the morning? I’m exhausted, I need to shower, I have no energy - I’m not exactly in a negotiating mood right now.” Fred quickly replied, marching a bit quicker down to the changing rooms. 

Dorea just stared at his back, mouth ajar.  _ The audacity…  _ What she almost said was, “ _ You’ll be lucky if I even want to continue this - us, - in the morning, Fred Weasley.”  _ And maybe she should have. But she wanted to make this work. After all, scuffles in relationships were normal, weren’t they? She loved Fred. It was their first argument in almost a year of dating. No, it would be silly to have one argument and end it. What she actually said was, “Yeah, let’s talk in the morning. That way it gives us  _ both  _ time to think of ways to make this better.”

Fred looked back at her, and gave her a look of understanding. She inclined her head in acknowledgement back.  _ That’s good, at least we’re civil now. Level playing field. _

She just hoped he felt the same way, come the morning. She had every faith in him.


End file.
